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BOOKS FIRST
© Katherine Lorimer
Benedict Wells at the Goethe-Institut New York
© BABF/Studio FAB
Nora Krug at the Bay Area Book Festival
© Goethe Pop Up Kansas City
Pierre Jarawan at Goethe Pop Up Kansas City
Katja Petrowskaja at the Bay Area Book Festival
© Goethe Pop Up Seattle
Jo Lendle at The Elliott Bay Book Company in cooperation with Goethe Pop Up Seattle
Dorothee Elmiger at the Bay Area Book Festival
Goethe Pop Up Kansas City
Team of Wunderbar Together at the Bay Area Book Festival
Takis Würger at the Bay Area Book Festival
LMD comic exhibition at Goethe Pop Up Seattle
Authors on the road
Throughout the Year of German-American Friendship, BOOKS FIRST showcased several German-language authors in the United States.
At numerous events hosted by the Goethe-Institutes, book shops and festivals, the authors presented their recently translated works and answered audience questions.
In 2019 we presented to you Antje Damm, Dorothee Elmiger, Theresia Enzensberger, Aisha Franz, Heike Geißler, Pierre Jarawan, Nora Krug, Jo Lendle, Michelle Steinbeck, Benedict Wells and Takis Würger.
Antje Damm - The Visitor
© Antje Damm Antje Damm is a celebrated children's writer and illustrator. Born in 1965 in Wiesbaden, Germany, she now lives with her husband and four children in a half-timbered house near Giessen. She has worked as an architect and has written and illustrated over a dozen books for children. The Visitor, was selected as one of ten New York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2018.
For the book Antje Damm creates a diorama from cardboard and photographs the scenes, giving the illustrations a special luminosity and depth. In workshops with children she showed them how the book was made. They also discovered the story of Elise, an anxious and shy woman, who meets Emil, a curious little boy. The little visitor brings color into her live and unwittingly changes everything.
Antje Damm: Der Besuch, Moritz Verlag, 2015 - The Visitor, Gecko Press, 2018. Translated by Sally-Ann Spencer.
2nd of November, Seattle, WA
4th of November, Houston, TX
6th of November, New York, NY
8th + 9th of November, Washington, DC
Dorothee Elmiger - Shift Sleepers
© Jürgen Beck Dorothee Elmiger is considered one of the most promising Swiss writers. Her debut novel Invitation to the Bold of Heart (published by Seagull Books) received the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize and the Kelag Prize in 2010. In 2014, Elmiger received the Hermann-Hesse-Förderpreis for her second novel, the German-language edition of Shift Sleepers and in 2015 she was awarded a Swiss Literature Award by the Federal Office of Culture and the Erich Fried Prize.
Somewhere deep in the European forest the Shift Sleepers meet. Frontier workers, smugglers, refugees, workers, asylum seekers, inspectors, artists, musicians, actors, journalists, scholarship holders, logisticians, students, and ghosts. They come from everywhere. They are all representatives of our time, and they have conversations about origins and justice; body and state; import and export; homeland and migration. They talk together about happiness, music, and death.
Dorothee Elmiger: Schlafgänger, DuMont, 2014 - Shift Sleepers, Seagull Books, 2018. Translated by Megan Ewing.
These events were organized in cooperation with Pro Helvetia.
5th of May, 11:45am, Bay Area Book Festival, Hotel Shattuck Plaza - Boiler Room, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
5th of May, 3:15pm, Bay Area Book Festival, Brower Center - Goldman Theater, 2150 Allston Way, Suite 100, Berkeley, CA
Theresia Enzensberger - Blueprint
© Rosanna Graf Theresia Enzensberger was born in 1986 in Munich and now lives in Berlin. She studied film at Brand College in New York and works as a freelance journalist for publications including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Zeit Online, Krautreporter and Monopol. In 2014 she founded the award-winning BLOCK magazine.
Blueprint is her first novel about the young and inquisitive Luise Schilling who arrives at Weimar's Bauhaus University at the beginning of the turbulent twenties. She takes classes with professors such as Gropius and Kandinsky and throws herself into the dreams and ideas of her epoch. From technology to art, communism to the avant-garde, populism to the youth movement, Luise encounters the social utopias that still shape us to the present day. She has ambitions of achieving a great deal in life - but little of it has to do with paying homage to great men.
Theresia Enzensberger: Blaupause, Carl Hanser Verlag, 2017 - Blueprint, Dialogue Books, 2019. Translated by Lucy Renner Jones.
18th of November, 6:30pm, Goethe-Institut Washington, 1377 R St NW, Washington, DC
20th of November, 7pm, Goethe-Institut New York, 30 Irving Place, New York, NY
21st of November, 7pm, Boston University, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road (1st floor), Boston, MA
Aisha Franz - Shit is Real
© Aisha Franz Aisha Franz is a Berlin-based comic book artist. She studied illustration at Kunsthochschule Kassel, a college of fine arts in Germany. In her work, she explores the possibilities of self-publishing while trying to push the boundaries of storytelling within the comic medium.
She has published three graphic novels, her latest being Shit is Real. Aisha Franz is a master of portraying feminine loneliness and confusion while keeping her characters tough and real. Her artwork shifts from sparseness to detailed futurist with ease. Her characters fidget and twirl as they zip through a world both foreign and familiar. Base human desires and functions alternate with dreamlike symbolism to create a tension-filled tale of the nightmare that is modern life.
Aisha Franz: Shit is Real, Reprodukt, 2016 - Shit is Real, Drawn & Quarterly, 2018. Translated by Nicholas Houde.
5th of April, 7pm, Desert Island Comic Bookstore, 540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY
6th of April, 1:30pm, MOCCA Arts Festival, Ink48, 653 11th Ave, New York City, NY
9th of April, 6.30pm, My Parents' Basement, 22 N Avondale Rd, Avondale Estates, GA
10th of April, 7pm, Other Books LA, 2006 East Cesar E Chavez Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Heike Geissler - Seasonal Associate
© Andrzej Steinbach / Spector Books Heike Geissler is a fiction writer from Leipzig, Germany. She teaches creative writing in Halle/Saale and Leipzig. Rosa, her first novel, was awarded with the Alfred Döblin Prize for debut fiction in 2001.
Her critically acclaimed non-fiction-novel Seasonal Associate earned her a fellowship by the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo in 2017. In the book, Geissler takes a seasonal job at Amazon Order Fulfillment in Leipzig when she is no longer able to live on the proceeds of her freelance writing and translating income. But the job, intended as a stopgap measure, quickly becomes a descent into humiliation, and Geissler soon begins to internalize the dynamics and nature of the post-capitalist labor market and precarious work. Geissler has written a twenty-first-century account of how the brutalities of working life are transformed into exhaustion, shame, and self-doubt.
Heike Geissler: Saisonarbeit, Spector Books, 2014 - Seasonal Associate, Semiotext(e), New York, 2018. Translated by Katy Derbyshire.
12th of March, 7pm, Goethe-Institut New York, 30 Irving Place, New York, NY
Pierre Jarawan - The Storyteller
© Marvin Ruppert Pierre Jarawan is an author, slam poet, stage writer, organizer and presenter from Munich. He was born in 1985 as the son of a Lebanese father and a German mother in Amman, Jordan, after his parents had left Lebanon because of the civil war. Since 2009 he has been one of the most successful stage poets in the German-speaking world. Pierre Jarawan lives in Munich.
The Storyteller is Pierre Jarawan's first novel. Samir's parents fled Lebanon to Germany shortly before his birth. When his beloved father disappears without a trace, Samir is eight. Now, twenty years later, he sets off for the land of the cedars to solve the mystery of this disappearance. A family story, touching, surprising and masterfully interwoven with the fate of the Middle East. The book was on the SPIEGEL bestseller list.
Pierre Jarawan: Am Ende bleiben die Zedern, Piper, 2018 - The Storyteller, World Editions, 2019. Translated by Sinéad Crowe & Rachel McNicholl.
15th of April, 6:30pm, Goethe Pop Up Houston, 1824 Spring Street, Studio 1A Houston, TX
30th of April, 7pm, Goethe Pop Up Kansas City, Goethe in the Crossroads, 1914 Main Street, Kansas City, MO
Nora Krug - Belonging
© Nina Subin Nora Krug's drawings and visual narratives have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Le Monde diplomatique. Her animations were shown at Sundance, and she is the recipient of fellowships from Fulbright, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and others. She is an associate professor in the Illustration Program at Parsons School of Design in New York and lives in Brooklyn.
Belonging wrestles with the idea of Heimat, the German word for the place that first forms us, where the sensibilities and identity of one generation pass on to the next. In this highly inventive visual memoir—equal parts graphic novel, family scrapbook, and investigative narrative—Nora Krug draws on letters, archival material, flea market finds, and photographs to attempt to understand what it means to belong to one's country and one's family.
Nora Krug: Heimat, Penguin Germany, 2018 - Belonging, Scribner, 2018.
4th of May, 11:45am, Bay Area Book Festival, The Marsh Theater, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
5th of Oktober, 07:00pm, The Elliott Bay Company, 1521 10th Ave, Seattle, WA
Jo Lendle - All the Land
© Linnea Buehler Jo Lendle is a German author and, since early 2014, the head of Hanser Verlag, Munich. Before Hanser, Lendle worked as a lecturer and program manager for German literature. He is member of the board of the Munich Literature House and the Publishers Committee of the Association of German Publishers and Booksellers.
How, in 1930, did Alfred Wegener, the son of minister from Berlin, find himself in the most isolated spot on earth, attempting to survive an unthinkably cold winter in the middle of Greenland? In All the Land, Jo Lendle sets out to chronicle Wegener's extraordinary journey from his childhood in Germany to the most unforgiving corner of the planet, giving us the story of this great adventurer, of the experiences that shaped him, resulting in a tale that is both thrilling and tender.
Jo Lendle: Alles Land, utb, 2008 - All the Land, Seagull Books, 2019. Translated by Katy Derbyshire.
12th of May, 5pm, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue at Broadway, San Francisco, CA
14th of May, 7pm, The Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave, Seattle, WA
18th of May, 3pm, Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL
22nd of May, 7pm, McNally Jackson Books, 76 N. 4th St, Unit G, Brooklyn, NY
MICHELLE STEINBECK - MY FATHER WAS A MAN ON LAND AND A WHALE IN WATER
© Dirk Skiba Michelle Steinbeck, born in 1990, is a Swiss author, curator and editor. She writes stories, poetry, plays, columns, and reportages. Steinbeck also organizes literary events for young writers and is editor-in-chief of the Zurich-based magazine Fabrikzeitung.
Her first novel My Father was a Man on Land and a Whale in the Water was both nominated for the Swiss and the German Book prize in 2016:
A child attacks Loribeth with an iron while she is sleeping. In retaliation Loribeth throws the iron onto the child from an upstairs window, packs the damaged body into a suitcase and sets off on her travels.
Thus starts Steinbeck's unusual, poetic novella about a young woman's transition from childhood to adulthood. Loribeth and her suitcase begin an odyssey through nightmarish locations in search of her absent father. What ensues is a Freudian adult fairytale in this exciting debut.
Michelle Steinbeck: Mein Vater war ein Mann an Land und im Wasser ein Walfisch, Lenos Verlag, 2016 - My Father was a Man on Land and a Whale in the Water, Darf Publishers, 2018. Translated by Jen Calleja.
13th of October, 1:30 pm, Litquake Festival, Hotel Emblem 562 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA
15th of October, 12:00 pm, University of California, Berkeley, Doe Library, room 303, South Hall Rd, Berkeley, CA
Benedict Wells - The End of Loneliness
© Roger Eberhard Benedict Wells, born in Munich in 1984, moved to Berlin after completing school in 2003. He decided against university to concentrate on his writing, earning a living with various jobs. His widely praised debut Beck's Last Summer was published in 2008 and adapted into a film in 2015. After several years in Barcelona, Benedict Wells has returned to Berlin. His books have been published in 34 languages.
Wells' fourth novel, The End of Loneliness, spent more than a year and a half on the Spiegel bestseller list and was awarded the 2016 ›European Union Prize for Literature ‹, among other awards. »A difficult childhood is like an invisible enemy: you never know when it will come for you.« Jules and his brother and sister Marty and Liz are all very different, but a tragic event marks all their lives. Having grown up in idyllic circumstances, they lose their parents in an accident. Although they are all sent to the same boarding school, each of them goes their own way, becoming strangers to one another and losing contact. Jules in particular, once a paragon of confidence, withdraws more and more into a dream world. The only friendship he makes is with the mysterious Alva, but he will only realize what she means to him years later – and what she has never told him. When Jules meets Alva again as an adult, it looks like they could make up for lost time. But then the past catches up with them.
Benedict Wells: Vom Ende der Einsamkeit, Diogenes, 2018 - The End of Loneliness, Sceptre, 2018. Translated by Charlotte Collins.
23th of May, 7pm, Waterloo Centre for German Studies, 101 Queen St N, Kitchener, ON, Canada.
4th of June, 7pm, Goethe-Institut New York, 30 Irving Place, New York, NY
29th of June, Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX
20th of July, 3pm, Our Daily Nada, 304 Delaware Street, Kansas City, MO
Takis Würger - The Club
© Sven Döring Takis Würger is a journalist and author. He studied Human, Social, and Political Science at St. John's College Cambridge for a year. During this time, he boxed for the University, broke two ribs and his hand, and became a member of the Adonians, the Hawks' Club, and the Pitt Club. Named one of Medium's "Top 30 Journalists under 30," alongside other accolades, his work as a journalist has taken him to Afghanistan, Libya, Mexico, and Ukraine.
The Club, which won the lit. Cologne debut prize and has become a runaway bestseller in Germany, is his first novel. It is a blistering and timely novel set at Cambridge University, centering around an all-male dining club for the most privileged and wealthy young men at Cambridge and following an outsider who exposes the dark secrets of this group, the Pitt Club.
Takis Würger: Der Club, Kein & Aber, 2017 - The Club, Grove Atlantic, 2019. Translated by Charlotte Collins.
30th of April, 7pm, Politics and Prose at Union Market, 1270 5th St. NE, Washington, DC
4th of May, 3:15pm, Bay Area Book Festival, Hotel Shattuck Plaza - Crystal Ballroom, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
7th of May, 4:30pm, DePaul University, Arts and Letters Hall, 2315 N. Kenmore Ave, Chicago, IL
8th of May, 7pm, Next Chapter Booksellers (Common Good Books), 38 S. Snelling, St. Paul, MN
Comic stories from Germany – presented by BOOKS FIRST and LE MONDE diplomatique
© Le Monde diplomatique 2019 Since 2005, the last page of the German edition of Le Monde diplomatique has featured a comic strip. Over the years, renowned illustrators and comic-strip artists have created remarkable contributions - and brilliantly mastered the particular challenge of the large page format as well as the limited narrative space. The comics created this way cast an unpredictable, often absurd and sometimes melancholical glance at politics, everyday life and culture. The concept refers back to the beginnings of modern comic strips, which emerged at the end of the 19th century as the icing on the cake of newspapers traditionally adorning the last page.
For the first time, a great poster exhibition will show a selection of German-speaking artists published in Le Monde diplomatique over the last few years. Over 40 posters will give an overview of the German comic and graphic novel scene: Stars and pioneers like Anke Feuchtenberger or ATAK meet established artists such as Barbara Yelin or Jim Avignon, joined by young talents such as Anna Haifisch and Robert Deutsch.
9th of May until 12th of June, Goethe Pop Up Seattle, Chophouse Row, 1424 11th Ave, Suite 101, Seattle, WA
24th until 26th of May, Festival de la BD, Espace La Fontaine, 3933 Avenue du Parc-La Fontaine, Montréal, QC, Kanada
1st until 31st of July, Goethe Pop Up Houston, 1824 Spring Street, Studio 1A, Houston, TX
1st until 31st of August, Goethe Pop Up Kansas City, 1914 Main St Suite 100, Kansas City, MO
11th of October until 15th of November, Goethe-Institut San Francisco, ART-Lounge, 530 Bush Street, San Farncisco, CA. With a talk by Karolinbe Bofinger, comic-editor Le Monde diplomatique and curator of the exhibition, on 24th of October, 6:30 pm
For general enquiries please contact booksfirst@goethe.de
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One-shoulder wonders: The asymmetrical royal style moments that came before Kate
Paolo Roversi / PA Images
To mark the Duchess of Cambridge's 40th birthday, Kensington Palace released three stunning portraits of the future Queen. The photographs, shot by Paolo Roversi at Kew Gardens, perfectly embodied the beauty and grace of the elegant royal. For the occasion, Kate donned three bespoke creations from the British style powerhouse of Alexander McQueen, with a breathtaking red one-shoulder dress featuring a balloon sleeve and pleated skirt sparking praise from all over the world.
This asymmetrical style, though, has long been approved by the royal family. Denoting the ethereal elan of Greek goddesses in flowing togas, designers have often rejoiced in the refined femininity of the style with iterations appearing on countless runways throughout the decades.
Championed by Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York in the Eighties and Nineties, late 20th century versions often came with an outré sleeve not too dissimilar to Kate's recent reprisal, while Princess Beatrice led the pack of one-sleeved women in the 2000s and 2010s embellished with sequins and gems.
Our fabulous friends across the channel have also been known to don asymmetrical designs throughout the years. From Princess Charlene of Monaco to Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, one-shouldered silhouettes have often graced high society events like the Rose Ball.
If you're feeling the need to bare a shoulder in the vein of Kate Middleton, allow these other royal style icons to inspire you further. From Princess Eugenie to Queen Letizia of Spain, these fashion leaders know how to wear it well.
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Why retailers need to fall in love with demand planning
Dr. Li-Meng Yan: Coronavirus Whistleblower – How the Chinese Government Covered Up the Emergence of the SARS COV-2 Virus
A year in, experts assess Biden's hits and misses on handling the pandemic

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On February 18th, The Nightingale Trio returns to Minnesota for their first performance after a year of travel and study of the rich women's folk traditions of Eastern Europe. The group's devotion to Balkan women's vocal traditions is evident in their tight harmonies, dizzying rhythms, and raw power. We talked with member Sarah Larsson about re-energizing the Balkan folk music tradition, the collective fight for social justice, and the group's many sources of inspiration. Read the full interview below and get tickets for the show here.
The Nightingale Trio met singing in larger vocal ensembles; how do you think these kind of ensembles influence and learn from the larger global folk music scene?
There's a pretty amazing web of people here in the U.S. who are celebrating, creating, listening, and dancing to music from global folk traditions. For Eastern European music specifically, interest in the U.S. stems largely from the generation of people who were in college in the '60s and '70s, mainly in the Northeast, in Chicago, and in California. A lot of these people were involved in a scene lovingly called "IFD": International Folk Dancing. That community, in turn, spawned a handful of awesome performing groups, including the Yale Slavic Chorus, the Pennywhistlers, Minnesota's own Ethnic Dance Theater, and others. These choirs have been the first access point for many musicians and non-musicians alike to encounter Eastern European and Balkan folk music.
Not all folk traditions carry well into the sphere of choral music (read: tacky arrangements of American folksongs and African-American spirituals sung by children's choirs), but Eastern European tradition stands out. There is amazing vocal harmony in many of these traditions – such as the polyphony in Ukrainian and Russian singing, or Croatian coastal Klapa music. In addition, the world is lucky to have a wealth of amazing choral music that has come out of Bulgaria in the last 50 years, thanks to state-sponsored touring choirs and excellent composers like Petar Lyondev and Filip Koutev really taking traditional harmonic forms and going wild overlaying edgy contemporary musical ideas onto them. Many folks in the U.S. first heard Bulgarian music back in the late '80s or early '90s on the Bulgarian Radio & Television Choir's album "Les Mystere de Voix Bulgares." It's a classic.
I think that the choirs singing this music today do some of the best outreach and re-energizing of the tradition, specifically because there is something particularly special about opening the door for newcomers to not only listen to but actively participate in singing this music. Choirs can do that.
That said, there is also the vast world of excellent smaller vocal groups, party bands, virtuoso instrumental ensembles, and brass bands who are also all integrally part of this community. Here in Minnesota, there's the Ukrainian Village Band, Traki, Orkestar Bez Ime, Lev & Olga Frayman, Belozer'e, the Ciprian Porumbescu Romanian Choir, Mila Vocal Ensemble, and others. Not to mention all the cultural hubs and organizations, like the St. Cyrus and Methodius Bulgarian school, the Ukrainian American Cultural Center, Heritage Organization of Romanian Americans, and so many more, which are home to children's choirs and host festivals each year that bring forward these traditions out into the neighborhood, and give us all a chance to party and sing along..
How have you adapted your ensemble experience to performing as a trio?
It's been a delightful journey, and definitely a galvanizing challenge. I know that all three of us have experienced dramatic, and very positive, growth as vocalists due to the demands of a trio versus a larger ensemble. As a trio, we're each completely responsible for learning a part, sustaining it, and owning our responsibility for knowing what we're doing. We need to sing boldly and whole-heartedly. There's no tuning out for a moment; you can't "sneak breaths" or "stagger breathe" as all our choir friends know you can in a larger ensemble. But this means that we've each grown immensely as vocalists and as performers: we've all become stronger singers in general, both technically and expressively, and we've become more bold and confident in the ways we put our voice into creating each song.
It's also amazing to experience singing in the trio context. We are able to create so much nuance and variation within each piece, because we are more nimble. If we are really listening in to each other, we can improvise and innovate in the small details—a breath or a hold here, a new emphasis here. There's no one of us in charge; we each commit to playing a key role in co-directing each song we sing. As a result, there are more surprises and unexpected moments of beauty. It's more intimate; we're communicating directly with each other every every moment of every every song. You take that extra responsibility and feel empowered by it, each of us emboldened to take risks and direct the rise and fall of the phrases.
What inspires you about the Eastern European women's folk tradition?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. My questions began years ago when I was first attending concerts and dance parties in Euro-American country folk music styles – contra dances and old time concerts and barn parties. I was asking, "Why are all these city kids so crazy about banjos and square dancing?" Then it also became a question for myself – Why am I so fired up about wearing an embroidered shirt and singing songs in languages I don't speak? A lot of it, I think, has to do with a thirst for connection. In those folky spaces, we hold hands with strangers and dance circle dances. A lot of people in those scenes are pretty nerdy, and set a precedent for us all to be able to open up and be fully ourselves. We share a collective repertoire of some cultural norms within the music, and then we're able to all connect in the space by carrying them out together. But why this music in particular? There's something inherently beautiful in it; I do believe in that, that there is some inherent sense of beauty that we experience, and that there is value in beauty, even if it doesn't have literal, translateable meaning with implications on our daily life. I think we eat beauty, like jam and honey and plum brandy.
It also has to do with imagination. When I sing this music, I'm listening in to the stories embedded in the words, and I'm stretching my mind out to picture the real-life experiences and context in which those stories took place. Because I am also a bit nostalgic for slower-paced kinds of living and societies that are more connected to the dirt and plants and the food we eat, as well as having a roots cultural connection to some of these places, I romanticize a bit about locating myself in those spaces. I've been known to say casually, "Back in the village…" –even though I don't really know what that historical place looks like or felt like. I make a lot of meaning out of the songs by overlaying some of what I know about that context onto the way I'd like to live.
Then add to the picture: I've been actively engaged in our collective work for social justice, particularly as it pertains to racial equity and decreasing the power of white supremacy in the United States. There have been strong calls from my friends and loved ones who are people of color for us of European descent to stop appropriating Indigenous, Black, and Brown culture and stop profiting from those artists' work. So I'm asking myself, how can we call in our White relatives and offer ourselves something that fills us up as an alternative to pillaging other cultures and communities? Part of the answer, I think, is digging more into our roots in Europe, and making room for ourselves to find some meaning and connection in those sounds, those rhythms. Especially because there are real stories embedded in these songs, as I said above, there's real possibility for our White communities to derive and create meaning out of this music in a way that can feed us in ways I think we need.
"In those folky spaces, we hold hands with strangers and dance circle dances. A lot of people in those scenes are pretty nerdy, and set a precedent for us all to be able to open up and be fully ourselves."
Can you explain the importance of keeping Balkan music traditions alive in Minneapolis?
I've been fascinated and confounded by Minneapolis' relationship with immigration and cultural traditions for a long time. In college, I wrote a paper about the horrible ways that African Muslim communities get portrayed in the television news media, in contrast with the rosy way European Christian immigrants have been portrayed by the same media historically. People of European descent in Minnesota have capitalized on our own immigration stories for a long time by celebrating the hard work and devotion of those pioneering European farmers, while simultaneously denying the humanity of non-white immigrants coming through the same lineage in a different time. We (meaning my community, us White European immigrant heritage folks) are all about our Nordic Christmas markets and St. Patrick's Day parades, but many of us make a big fuss about a Halal grocery moving in on our Main Street. On top of that, we keep scrambling to find ways to live healthier lives and protect the earth but we keep simultaneously erasing the history of knowledge that Native communities carry and have preserved in the face of constant attack from our kith and kin. I think that making folk music rooted in a European folk tradition creates a platform for us to all talk together about what it means to claim this heritage, and how we can—and should—be using our immigrant memories to be better neighbors. I do see hope on the horizon, and I'm excited for the ways that I as an artist have already been able to have conversations with folks about how we want our communities to behave in regards to art, roots, and tradition, as we move into the future. That's my experience singing this music; I know that other Nightingales Nila, who is a woman of Indian heritage, and Rachel, who lived part of her childhood outside the U.S., both have their own personal experiences that are different from mine.
In addition, I know that having stages and audiences for folk music means a ton to folks who are here in Minnesota and are either themselves immigrants from Eastern European countries, or are recent descendants of those immigrants. There's a large and incredibly loving community of people who create and celebrate spaces for Eastern European cultural heritage here in Minnesota, including Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Czech, Slovak, Rusyn, and Ashkenazi Jewish communities. It's a sprawling community made up of both folks who themselves have immigrated from those countries who carry it quite directly in their blood, and folks who are devotees of the tradition and have made it their own.
As far as keeping traditions alive goes, we're all part of the ecosystem. A famous Minnesotan, professor Mirjana Laušević (who passed away in 2007), wrote a book about it, based on her amazement, as a native of Sarajevo, at seeing non-Balkan folks so passionately performing and dancing to Balkan music. One of my favorite days of the year is the Ukrainian Heritage Festival, which usually falls on the weekend of my birthday in September, at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center in Northeast. And one of my favorite performances ever was in the community hall of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, a little tiny, beautiful, beautiful Serbian Orthodox church in Eastside St. Paul. It's not just about keeping things alive, though; that implies keeping things in museum-grade glass boxes, clinging on to glimpses of the way things used to be. It's really about co-creating a future that both contains and is fired by a vital, breathing, living tradition that evolves with us and both answers to and informs our communities as we grow.
Minnesota professor Mirjana Laušević wrote "Balkan Fascination" based on her amazement at seeing non-Balkan folks so passionately performing and dancing to Balkan music.
You've had experience studying with master singers from the Eastern European countries you draw inspiration from. How did these teachers influence your trajectory as musicians?
Ugh, I'm terrified that I'll forget someone. I'm sure I have. But it gives you a picture of the amazing web of people who are spending their own heart and energy to pass on these amazing sounds and stories that we're so happy to be able to participate in.
We really depend on these folks both as our teachers—directly instructing and advising us on vocal production, teaching us new repertoire, and keeping us rooted in the tradition—and for their role as carriers of their amazing knowledge of tradition and repertoire. These individuals are all carrying around hundreds if not thousands of songs in their heads, and are really the source for everything that we and other musicians in the community do. Then there are also folks whom we haven't worked with directly, but who are spearheading work to preserve and archive historic recordings, whose work we utilize constantly. Some of those folks are Ethel Raim, Michael Alpert, Bob Cohen, Sanja Rankovic, and others. We're also indebted to great arrangers and performers whose work we imitate and learn from constantly – the Eva Quartet, Tsvetan Georgiev, Rhodopea Kaba Trio, Petar Lyondev, the Bulgarian National Choir, Kitka, Tutarchela, Zedashe, Sokalsky Sestri, and more!
You've been touring and singing together since 2013. How has your sound changed since you started the project?
So we began by only singing our favorites from the Yale Slavic Chorus repertoire – songs that we'd known already for years, and a handful that we'd heard on old recordings and always itched to sing ourselves. Beyond that, we didn't have any sense of a singular identity as a group, or any goals for our own sound or approach. But everything came so naturally, our voices fit together so well, that we quickly noticed how these old songs felt very different and new.
I feel like our sound is characterized much more by a kind of lightness and airiness than our original music as members of the Yale Slavic Chorus; it is influenced much more by our own natural singing voices, rather than a product of us trying to imitate particular folk styles. Since we started to find that sound, we've become much more nuanced, I think, and more keyed in to the variation between each line of a song, and the rise and fall of each chord. We have a trope that I think we do particularly well that I'd best describe as a mini-swell – there's certain notes where we grow dynamically inside of them before moving on to the next note in the phrase.
We've now moved into a new era where we aren't just creating our own take on existing songs, but we are commissioning and composing completely new arrangements. This is extremely exciting. I was personally funded this year with a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (shout out to Minnesota Legacy funding! Call your Senators and thank them!) to work with awesome choral composers and create 5 new arrangements. I'm excited by the iterative process of knowing our strengths and what we find to be the most fun to sing, and then turning around and actually creating pieces by utilizing and playing off those strengths. This concert, we're singing two new compositions by awesome women composers Olga Amelkina-Vera and Ayanna Woods, which we commissioned with funds from the Howard & Ruth Brin Jewish Arts Endowment, which is another awesome Minnesota-based resource. It's great to take another step into feeling like we really have our own voice.
Right now, we're mostly feeling fired up about being able to sing together again. It's been almost 18 months since our album release in September 2016, and I think we're all itching for this reunion. It's a delight every time we get together. I think all of us have some standout moments in our lives that we think about as moments of amazing beauty or inspiration; I've had a strong showing of those moments in singing with the Nightingale Trio, seeing the responses in people's faces, hearing our voices hit a perfect chord for a single divine moment, feeling my own eyes filling up with tears as the story of the song and the sounds shared between us align – it's something that my heart craves for and it's been far too long since we've been able to make this magic together. That, and we're all so enamored with the community here in Minnesota. Rachel and Nila (who live elsewhere) keep saying, "Minnesota loves us!!" And it's true – we have the most consistent, committed, joyful network of fans here, who keep coming out to shows, sending us notes when we're away, and welcoming us back with open arms. We're excited to get to come back to this home base.


We are very central and convenient for all Blackpool's major attractions, The Golden Mile, Blackpool Tower, The Winter Gardens all the Theatres and shops.
Here at The Norwood In Blackpool Geoff & Lorraine await you with a warm welcome. Our aim is to make your Holiday as relaxing and as comfortable as we can.
Our reputation for hospitality and cleanliness has been bringing back valued guests year after year. We offer all modern facilities that to-days Holidaymakers have come to expect. We are very central and convenient for all Blackpool's major attractions, The Golden Mile, Blackpool Tower, The Winter Gardens all the Theatres and shops.We are happy to help you plan your stay and point you in the right direction to a top restaurant for a pleasant evening dinner.
Do give us a call or send us an email for further information. We will be delighted to help.
Naturally all our bedrooms are now furnished to the highest of standards. We have just recently completed the Family Suite which is two rooms in one – A kids room connected to a grown up room. Accommodating 2 Adults and 3 Children this suite is ideal for the larger family.
Our other rooms have all just finished being refurbished in the last couple of years to the same high Standard. All are rooms are en-suite with bathroom including shower.
You can enjoy time in our bar chatting over a coffee or simply reading a good book while we serve you your choice of drinks from our well stocked, licensed bar.
If you have children with you we have monitors for you to use and keep an ear on them whilst you relax in our Bar.
In our dining room we have ample room to accommodate everyone for breakfast. We also have a selection from the breakfast menu that will keep you going throughout the day ahead.
Help yourself to fruit, cereal and fresh juice while we prepare for you a delicious full english or another selection of cooked items from the menu.
The Norwood does have WiFi installed for your use whilst staying at The Norwood so please feel free to bring your Laptop or other WiFi enabled device during your stay.
We have many happy customers who return every year to our hotel and to the level of service we provide here at The Norwood. We pride ourselves in ensuring your satisfaction.
The service starts from the moment you contact us so please do using the information shown above.


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Gilten – gmina w Niemczech, w kraju związkowym Dolna Saksonia, w powiecie Heidekreis, wchodzi w skład gminy zbiorowej Schwarmstedt.

Bibliografia
 Landesbetrieb für Statistik und Kommunikationstechnologie Niedersachsen, Hanower, 2009

Powiat Heidekreis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Ivanhoe Knights Engagement Award is our version of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Everyone will begin on the Bronze Award and complete set tasks and challenges to gain their award.
It is a great opportunity and is something you can continue with throughout Ivanhoe and then progress to the Duke of Edinburgh award once at Ashby School.
For each award tasks are completed in Four Areas: Community, Skills, Expedition and Healthy Lifestyles. As you move through Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards more tasks in each area need completing. As each student completes a task they get that section 'signed off' by an adult involved such as a coach, leader, music teacher or member of staff.
Once a student has completed their award they can move on to the next one. Students also collect points for their House Team, (Fire, Water, Earth and Air) once they complete each award. This is 5 points for Bronze, 10 for Silver and 15 for Bronze.
The award sheets to complete can be found on Page 23/24 in your child's school planner.


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Home2017August
Xcel, Otter Tail Power announce completion of Big Stone South-Brookings County line
August 31, 2017 Corina Rivera-Linares
The companies are joint owners of the project, which runs between the Big Stone South substation near Big Stone City and the existing Brookings County substation about 10 miles northeast of Brookings, according to an Aug. 30 statement.
ERCOT: Four 345-kV lines experiencing storm-related forced outages restored
Since the hurricane first made landfall, six 345-kV transmission lines have experienced storm-related forced outages, but as of the morning of Aug. 30, all but two of those lines have been restored, ERCOT said.
Virginia SCC authorizes construction of 230-kV line by Dominion Energy Virginia
The project must be built and in service by June 1, 2020, but the company is granted leave to apply for an extension for good cause shown, the SCC said in its Aug. 29 final order.
Hawaiian Electric Companies file Grid Modernization Strategy with Hawai'i regulators
According to the filing, the strategy will help the five islands served by the Companies to achieve a renewable portfolio standard of 48% by 2020, and ultimately 100% by 2045.
AEP Ohio, AEP Ohio Transmission Company to begin construction on 69-kV line next spring
According to a project fact sheet, besides building the line, the major project components also include upgrading the Mount Sterling and Zanesville substations.
Open house scheduled for Sept. 18 in Ohio regarding two rebuild projects
The projects are part of the larger Ross-Jackson Area Improvements Project, which will be an approximate $41m investment, AEP Ohio and AEP Ohio Transmission Company said on Aug. 28.
SCE&G seeks approval in South Carolina for two 230-kV lines
The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, in an Aug. 22 letter to the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff, said that it has no comments or concerns pertinent to the project at this time.
SWEPCO seeks approval in Louisiana for 138/69-kV substation, lines
The transmission project would include the construction of three new 138-kV transmission lines – Leaside Way to Southwest Shreveport; Leaside Way to Stonewall; and Leaside Way to Western Electric – as well as building the 138/69-kV autotransformer substation (Leaside Way).
ATC seeks approval for minor route adjustment for Wisconsin project
The proposed revised route impacts one new landowner and eight existing landowners, American Transmission Company said, adding that it has consulted with each landowner, and each has agreed to the minor route adjustment.
ERCOT, other entities respond to Harvey
Harvey made landfall around 11 p.m., EDT, on Aug. 25, between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor in Texas as a category 4 hurricane, according to the Aug. 28 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Infrastructure Security & Energy Restoration "Hurricane Harvey Event Report (Update #5)."


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Meghan Trainor and Penn Badgley Just Did a Viral TikTok Dance Together
The video, set to "Made You Look," is a must watch.
By Christie Calucchia
Social media platforms, especially TikTok, hav a way of bringing together unlikely duos with song and dance. Case in point, Meghan Trainor and Penn Badgley recently teamed up for a choreographed number that you simply have to see to believe.
In a clip that currently has more than 17 million views the "All About That Bass" singer and Gossip Girl alum boogie in front of yellow wall. Trainor is in leggings and a pink sweatshirt while Badgley wears a gray sweater and a baseball cap reminiscent of what his character Joe Goldberg wears in his creepy Netflix show called You.
The dance is set to Trainor's recent hit song "Made You Look," which has quickly climbed the TikTok music charts as more and more app users try out the viral dance involving hip dips, shimmying, and head-bopping. Badgley's efforts are entertaining to watch to say the least, as he fumbles through some of the moves.
Jenna Dewan Doing TikTok's 'About Damn Time' Dance Challenge Is a Major Mood
"I'm obsessed with YOU," writes Trainor in the caption of the TikTok post, playfully referencing Badgley's show, which has a new season airing in February 2023.
The video now has three million likes and tens of thousands of comments. Even some fellow celebs chimed in on the silly post. "Omg okay I'm jealous!" wrote Tia Mowry. "I'll keep practicing," added Kevin Bacon, who's certainly no stranger to picking up dance moves.
Trainor and Badgley paired up to promote an upcoming episode of the actor's podcast called Podcrushed featuring the singer. In case you're unfamiliar, the podcast hosted by Badgley shares celebrity interviews with a focus on stories from middle school, often involving heartbreak, self discovery, and (inherently) some embarrassing moments.
While it's unclear what Trainor will discuss on the podcast episode set to release on December 21, the singer is often an open book when it comes to typically taboo subjects.
Last year, she shared details about her difficult pregnancy and childbirth. At 16 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, which affects about six to nine percent of pregnant women. Then when it was time for delivery, she unexpectedly had to have a C-section because her baby was in a breech position (head up in the uterus), making vaginal birth more difficult and at times impossible.
Most recently, Trainor opened up about struggling with her body image as a new mom and how antidepressants have helped her deal with panic disorder. "When a doctor tells you there's something wrong with your brain it's the scariest thing ever, so I went on antidepressants and it saved my life," said Trainor during an Apple Fitness+ Time to Walk episode.
Until the new podcast episode drops, you can enjoy the performance from Trainor and Badgley on TikTok and maybe even give it a try for yourself.
Meghan Trainor Opened Up About Her Panic Disorder and Shared Advice for Others
Watch JoJo Siwa Do Lizzo's Viral '2 Be Loved' Dance On TikTok
Ashley Park Goes After What She Wants
Why Taylor Swift's 'Anti-Hero' Music Video Is Getting Backlash
Lizzo Is the Latest Celebrity to Try a Cold Plunge
Meghan Trainor and Ashley Graham Got Super Real About Why They Don't Want to Be Photoshopped
Lizzo Did the Viral TikTok Treadmill Workout Set to Her Own Music
Ashley Graham, Iskra Lawrence, and More Are Celebrating Their Changing Bodies on Social Media — and for Good Reason
Your Complete Guide to Cardio Dance
Amy Adams Mastered the Applebee's TikTok Dance and You Have to See Her Moves
What to Read, Watch, Listen to, and Learn from This Juneteenth
The Best Online Dance Classes to Level Up Your Dance Game
What Is Vabbing and Why Are People Doing It at the Gym?
Jojo Siwa Shared Her Full Two-Hour Workout — Yes, That's Really Long


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November 17, 2016 6:37PM EST | Dispatches
African Members Reaffirm Support at International Criminal Court Meeting
Countries Commit to Working Within the ICC System
Elise Keppler
Associate Director, International Justice Program
EliseKeppler
A slew of African countries reaffirmed their backing for the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the past two days, giving much-needed support to the court in the wake of recently announced withdrawals by South Africa, Burundi, and Gambia.
The entrance of the International Criminal Court (ICC). © 2011 Reuters
African governments took the floor during the general debate session of the ICC's annual meeting and signaled their continued support and membership in the court. The reaffirmation of support by states helped tamp down speculation over mass withdrawal from the ICC.
Some governments that expressed support raised criticisms, calling for more dialogue on some African members' concerns with the court. Others focused on broader problems, pointing to inconsistent action by the United Nations Security Council on global justice.
Burundi and South Africa spoke to justify their decisions to withdraw.
A number of countries spoke out for the first time on the withdrawals to endorse the court.
Nigeria declared its "unflinching" support for the ICC and urged for more resources for the court.
Democratic Republic of Congo announced it will not withdraw and affirmed its "firm commitment" to continue cooperating with the ICC.
Ivory Coast expressed its "wish to renew" its commitment to the court, and Botswana reaffirmed its support.
Tunisia highlighted that the ICC is often the "only avenue for justice" for many victims and reaffirmed its commitment.
Ghana reaffirmed its commitment, and said it will continue to be a "strong supporter."
Mali said it would remain with the ICC and that states can better respond to the needs of justice from within the system.
Burkina Faso reiterated its commitment and said withdrawals "will only undermine justice."
Tanzania said the ICC is an "inspiration" and has "exclusive importance."
Lesotho reaffirmed its support, and said that "change must come from within."
Uganda, which has previously strongly criticized the court, affirmed its support and commitment to cooperate.
Kenya lashed out against criticism of withdrawals, but was silent on its membership and urged the assembly to work collectively for reform.
Only Namibia said withdrawal remained an option, but noted a decision had not been taken – despite media reports that the cabinet had decided on withdrawal last year.
All of these statements are welcome news, including for the nearly 200 African groups that called for African ICC member countries to lend greater support for the court in the wake of the withdrawals.
Tanzania and Zanzibar
November 2, 2022 News Release
Kenya: ICC Defendant Found Dead
May 6, 2021 Dispatches
ICC Sentences LRA Leader to 25 Years
October 15, 2017 Report
"Kill Those Criminals"
Security Forces Violations in Kenya's August 2017 Elections
Who Will Stand for Us?
Victims' Legal Representation at the ICC in the Ongwen Case and Beyond


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The Top 40 Films of 2009 (40-36)
With this post, my last of the year (and the decade), I begin looking back on the past year's best films. 2009 was an embarrassment of cinematic riches, so much so that I refuse to submit myself to the "tyranny of ten," as the estimable critic Jonathan Keifer terms it, since there were far more than ten films that deserve recognition as great achievements. So herewith, in a nod to the great Casey Kasem, begins a Top-40 countdown of the year's best films. Everyone has their own rules for inclusion, and here are mine: if a film had or began its commercial run, or played for at least a week in New York during the calendar year 2009, it was eligible. The vagaries of film distribution being what they are, many of the films on my list were not actually made in 2009. That said, here we go.
40. Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer, US, 2009)/Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi, US, 2009)
A double shot of exhilarating B-movie bliss. Fleischer picks up John Carpenter's mantle and delivers a stylish, hilarious road movie that traverses a post-zombie apocalypse America, with breathless verve and invention. The denizens of this blasted landscape include: Jesse Eisenberg (who is also in another film much higher on this list), refining his virginal-neurotic persona, suggesting a younger Woody Allen; Woody Harrelson, aces as a swaggering zombie hunter with an acute hankering for Twinkies; and the cherry on top is a priceless Bill Murray cameo. Raimi interrupts his Spider-Man movie career to return to his roots with an appealingly old-school Gothic horror that has a dash of topicality (an ill-advised bank foreclosure decision sets the mayhem into motion), but is mostly an opportunity for Raimi to prove himself a master of shock mechanics and to fuck with our heads in the way only he can.
DRAG ME TO HELL: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: Drag_Me_to_Hell, David_Paymer, Justin_Long, Alison_Lohman, Jessica_Lucas, Lorna_Raver, Universal_Pictures, Horror, Sam_Raimi, DRAG_ME_TO_HELL
39. The Informant! (Steven Soderbergh, US, 2009)
The curious case of Mark Whitacre: Soderbergh's latest is a slippery object, at once mainstream star vehicle and odd experiment, at once parodic and subtly chilling. As unsettling and elusive as its protagonist (portrayed by Matt Damon in one of his best performances), The Informant! has an oddly anachronistic feel: even though the action takes place in the early 90's, the wardrobe, production design, and Marvin Hamlisch score evoke the '70s, referencing such paranoiac cinema touchstones as Coppola's The Conversation, which this film often seems like a bizarre parody of. This is the true(ish) tale of the whistleblower who dropped the dime on his employer Archer Daniels Midland, who perpetrated a massive industrial price-fixing scheme. Unbeknownst to his FBI handlers, Whitacre himself was just as deceptive about his motives and actions as his employers, if not more so. The film gives no ground to the viewer on which to stand as far as audience identification goes: almost everyone is just a different degree of a liar. As such, it perfectly reflects our post-economic collapse world.
38. Summer Hours/L'heure d'été (Olivier Assayas, France, 2008)
A sun-dappled, elegiac pastoral evoking the films of Jean Renoir, the spiritual grandfather of practically all the great French directors who followed him, Summer Hours captures the ephemeral nature of life and what we collect during it, even more accurately evoked by its French title. The death of a family matriarch (the wonderful Edith Scob) occasions a debate and familial conflict over the true value of art works, and what it really means when family heirlooms are put on display at a public museum. The grown children, who are scattered around the planet, deal with the severed family bonds in often diametrically opposed ways. As much as Summer Hours laments things lost, it is not without optimism; we are left with a strong hint that the youngest generation, who while at play in the family garden make their own life discoveries (often with a pop and hip-hop soundtrack), and who have the best hope at surviving in the current world, deciding what should be preserved and what should be discarded.
37. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, US/Germany, 2009)
Regardless of their ostensible subject matter, all of Tarantino's films are really about his all-encompassing and unabashed love of cinema, and Inglourious Basterds expresses this love on his largest, most elaborate canvas to date. A history-rewriting, wish-fulfillment fantasy that shoehorns within it many references to German cinema of the period, it may have ranked higher on my list if there were a bit more depth to its pyrotechnics. Still, it's a tremendous achievement, and Tarantino reveals himself to be a brilliant Hitchcock acolyte in the way he gains maximum tension from very long dialogue-heavy scenes with tense undercurrents (e.g. the brilliant opening sequence).
36. Old Partner/Wonang sori (Lee Chung-ryoul, South Korea, 2008)
This beautifully constructed documentary about an old farmer and his work ox was a surprise sleeper hit in its native Korea, and opens this week at Film Forum. It actually had a run this spring at the Imaginasian Theatre, which almost no one noticed. Now that more people in this country are aware of this film's existence, hopefully they will discover the charms and beauty of Old Partner, an intimate elegy to a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
Posted by Author: Christopher Bourne at 12:43 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Lee Chung-ryoul, Olivier Assayas, Quentin Tarantino, Reviews, Ruben Fleischer, Sam Raimi, Steven Soderbergh, Top 40 Films of 2009
Best Korean Films of the 2000s: Roh Gyeong-tae, "Land of Scarecrows" (2008)
Land of Scarecrows (Heosuabideuleui ddang). 2008. Written and directed by Roh Gyeong-tae. Produced by Roh Gyeong-tae, Antonin Dedet, and Kim Jae-Chung. Cinematography by Choi Jung-soon. Edited by Choi Hyun-suk. Production design by Eum Jin-sun. Music by Lee Jaesin. Costume design by Choo Jung-hee.
Cast: Kim Sun-young (Jang Ji-young), Jung Duwon (Loi Tan), Bich Phuong Thi (Rain).
One of the most original, boldly experimental, and beautiful works of Korean cinema this past decade, with indelible and haunting images that remain with me, is Roh Gyeong-tae's second feature Land of Scarecrows. An evocative tale of gender confusion, arranged marriage, adoption, and environmental devastation, Roh's film was largely dismissed and misunderstood by most critics, and notwithstanding its being awarded the New Currents prize at the 2008 Pusan International Film Festival, it didn't get the audiences or critical notices it deserved. Below is what I wrote on this film when it screened at Pusan.
For a jaded filmgoer and film festivalgoer like me, surprises can often be few and far between. Whether it is the latest Hollywood super-spectacle or the most obscure, experimental art film, most films nowadays are variations on the familiar and endlessly overdone. So it is quite a pleasure to come across such a film as Roh Gyeong-tae's Land of Scarecrows, a true masterpiece whose elliptical, initially challenging style is nevertheless eminently accessible. Roh's second feature, which shared the New Currents Award (for best first or second film) at this year's Pusan International Film Festival, is one of the great discoveries one always hopes to find at a film festival, especially one with as vast a selection as Pusan's.
Opening with a cryptic image of two mudang (Korean female shamans) performing an elaborate ritual dance, Land of Scarecrows alternates between two locales: Honghae, a rural area of South Korea, and the Philippines. The film follows a number of characters, the three most significant being Jang Ji-young (Kim Sun-young), an amateur installation artist who also happens to be a transgender woman living as a man; Rain (Bich Phuong Thi), a young Filipina who dreams of living in Korea; and Loi Tan (Jung Duwon), an ethnic Korean young man who was brought from the Philippines as a foster child. A beautiful and lyrical alchemy, not dissimilar to the artworks Ji-young creates, brings these characters together and unites their destinies into a tapestry that is mesmerizing to watch.
Land of Scarecrows melds humor, melancholy, and an ethereal sense of spirituality in a way that elevates it far above the sort of pretentious, self-consciously arty films that are far too prevalent at film festivals. The phenomenon of Korean men seeking arranged marriages with Southeastern Asian women is presented in a very humorous way, with repeated scenes of nervous potential brides being sized up by their suitors. Ji-young meets and marries Rain at one of these marriage agencies, of course with Rain initially being unaware that her new husband is a biological woman. Their relationship, however, isn't played for laughs and in fact leads to some of the most poignant moments of the film. The film is also full of beautifully-rendered scenes that could stand alone as short films, such as Ji-young and Rain's initial meeting, and a later scene in a karaoke bar where Ji-young belts out a plaintive, romantic song.
Roh Gyeong-tae, a former stockbroker who previously made a number of experimental short films and the feature The Last Dining Table, emerges as a major talent with Land of Scarecrows, which has a richly textured look and an unusual approach to storytelling that yields great rewards. This makes it all the more gratifying that the New Currents jury, headed by French New Wave icon Anna Karina, recognized this extraordinary work.
Land of Scarecrows is available on DVD from YesAsia.com.
Labels: Best Korean Films of the 2000s, Korean Cinema, Reviews, Roh Gyeong-tae
2009 Pusan International Film Festival: Sights and Sounds of Busan
I will wrap up my coverage of this year's Pusan International Film Festival with an assortment of pictures and video I made during the festival. Below is a Flickr slideshow of photos and some videos I shot that I hope will give at least a small sense of what it was like to be there, and some of the experiences Busan offered beyond the films.
Posted by Author: Christopher Bourne at 7:32 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Film Festivals, Pusan International Film Festival
Wes Anderson, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" -- Q&A at MOMA, 12/7/09
Wes Anderson spoke recently at the Museum of Modern Art following a screening of his latest film Fantastic Mr. Fox, his wonderful, beautifully crafted stop-motion animated version of Roald Dahl's classic book, the first film by Anderson that I've loved since Rushmore. Animation was a logical step for him, since his live-action films are already rather cartoonish. Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of my favorite films of the year -- watch this space for the rest of them.
Labels: Screenings, US Cinema, Wes Anderson
Best Korean Films of the 2000s: Song Il-gon, "The Magicians" (2005)
The Magicians (Mabeopsadul). 2005. Written and directed by Song Il-gon. Produced by Lee Young-ju. Cinematography by Park Young-jun. Edited by Choi Jae-kun. Music by Song Il-gon and Loveholic.
Cast: Jung Woong-in, Jang Hyun-sung, Lee Seung-bee, Kang Kyung-hun, Kim Hak-sun.
A major trend of the past decade in film is the ever increasing prevalence of digital technology. Song Il-gon's The Magicians, a 95 minute film shot in a single take, is one of the finest films in this medium. Song, one of Korea's most interesting filmmakers, was educated at Lodz Film School in Poland, whose alumni include Kryzstof Kieslowski and Roman Polanski, and this undoubtedly contributes to his very distinctive style of filmmaking. Song previously made two digital features, Flower Island and Git (Feathers in the Wind), in both cases exploring the unique creative possibilities inherent in the medium. The Magicians was originally a 40 minute short, titled "Magician(s)," included in the omnibus "Digital Shorts By Three Filmmakers," an annual project of the Jeonju International Film Festival, in which three filmmakers are invited to make short films using digital technology. The 40 minute version, while impressive technically, never quite shook the sense of being a show-offy stunt. However, as a feature, it gains much depth and emotional resonance, transforming into a moving and, despite its somber subject matter, ultimately uplifting meditation on memory, spirituality, and the coexistence of the past and present.
The Magicians is set in and around a bar in a wooded area far from the city, where the three surviving members of the rock band Magician gather, as they do each year, for a memorial for their female guitarist Jae-eun (Lee Seung-bi), who committed suicide three years earlier. The bar is run by her boyfriend Jae-sung (Jung Woong-in), who created this remote retreat as a way to deal with his grief. The bass player (Jang Hyun-sung) and female vocalist (Kang Kyung-heon) also reminisce and are still shaken by the loss. Jae-un herself appears as a ghostly presence, hovering unseen among her living friends. Within the film's single take, flashbacks before Jae-eun's suicide and the circumstances leading up to it are handled with boldly theatrical techniques: music cues, lighting changes, and a character's movement out of the bar or up a staircase takes us back into the past. The natural setting, and the presence in the film of a fifth character, a monk leaving his monastery and looking for a snowboard he left at the bar, suggest the spiritual presence suggested by the title of the piece. By using the digital medium to evoke the past, The Magicians shares similarities to another groundbreaking digital film, Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, which traveled through centuries of Russian history. Song's film is much more intimate, observing the connections between a small group of people who will never escape their past, and we are left with the suggestion that this is not necessarily a bad thing. For better or worse, our relations with others, whether happy or tragic, are part of who we are, and it is folly to attempt to hide or run from it.
Posted by Author: Christopher Bourne at 12:47 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Best Korean Films of the 2000s, Korean Cinema, Reviews, Song Il-gon
2009 Pusan International Film Festival: Review Round-up #2
Sawasdee Bangkok (Wisit Sasanatieng, Aditya Assarat, Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand, 2009)
A great four-film anthology about the city of Bangkok, each one built around a song. In Wisit Sasanatieng's "Sightseeing," a blind homeless girl selling lottery tickets on the street is accompanied by a mysterious companion who claims to be a literal guardian angel. In Aditya Assarat's "Bangkok Blues," a young man, who has broken up with his girlfriend, and his soundman best friend are the crux of an amusing tale about relationships. Kongdej Jaturanrasmee's "Pi Makham," about a heartbroken, solitary man and the prostitute he picks up, morphs into an unusual ghost story. In Pen-ek Ratanaruang's "Silence," a woman driving home after a wild night of partying learns a painful lesson on the perils of judging by appearance. Four appealing miniatures from four of Thailand's most accomplished young directors.
Break Away (Lee Song Hee-il, South Korea, 2009)
The second film from Lee Song, one of Korea's very few openly gay filmmakers, and my first disappointment. Essentially a road movie consisting of two AWOL soldiers and the girlfriend of one of the men who accompanies them, the film has a thin, undeveloped scenario. It is based on a true story of soldiers who attempted to escape sexual abuse of the hands of their commanding officer. There's really not much more to it than the above description, and Break Away is strangely inert, lacking the intensely passionate nature of his first film, No Regret.
I Am Looking For A Wife (Ha Kil-chong, South Korea, 1976)
I Am Looking For A Wife is a typically weird entry in this year's retrospective of filmmaker and critic Ha Kil-chong. It's not a particularly good film, but it is a divertingly eccentric portrait of Pal-soo (Ha Jae-young), a horny young man who strolls around the streets outside Ewha Womans University in Seoul ogling the college girls and fantasizing about being with them. He works as a debt collector for a loan-shark, and through his boss' machinations, Pal-soo ends up sharing a house with a collection of nubile young women. Meanwhile, his farmer father has arranged a more traditional bridal prospect for him, which Pal-soo assiduously resists. Presented in a bizarre visual style with anarchic humor, this film is an interesting example of the unusual films released in Korea in the 1970's, belying this period's undeserved reputation as a cinematic wasteland.
Magma (Pierre Vinour, France, 2009)
The second feature by experimental filmmaker Vinour extends that aesthetic into this story about Paul (Mehdi Nebbou), an agoraphobic software engineer who very reluctantly travels to a conference to pitch a video surveillance program to an American company. He speaks to his wife Christie (Natacha Régnier) by video conference, where he has installed the surveillance program in his own house. Christie feels neglected and alienated from her husband, both by his extreme workaholic ways and his various personal issues. Paul, initially restricting himself to his room, is persuaded to venture into the outside world as the result of an affair he embarks on with a mysterious woman in the hotel room next door. Employing the titular substance as a metaphor for the buried evil of the main character, Magma impressively elevates its rather standard plot with some interesting visual flourishes.
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Labels: Aditya Assarat, Film Festivals, Ha Kil-chong, Kondej Jaturanrasmee, Lee Song Hee-il, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Pierre Vinour, Pusan International Film Festival, Reviews, Wisit Sasanatieng
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Rey Pila shine in return to Fox Theater Oakland as opener for Brandon Flowers
September 10, 2015 by Marc Fong Leave a Comment
By Marc Fong //
Rey Pila //
Fox Theater Oakland – Oakland
September 2nd, 2015 //
Mexico City natives Rey Pila returned to the Bay Area last Wednesday night to open for the enigmatic Brandon Flowers. The band, fronted by baby-faced lead singer Diego Solórzano, brought with them a familiar, yet distant vibe.
Rey Pila's sound is dark and synth-filled. Solórzano's voice is reminiscent of your favorite Tears for Fears track. And although the band might have gotten lost in the pop goth of the 80's, it now flourishes with a great rock sound.
More polished than they were during their previous visit to Oakland when they opened for Interpol last year (read our review here), Rey Pila brought their distinct sound back to The Fox. The band's onstage energy matched that of its latest album The Future Sugar, which was released in May. That is to say, the performance constantly kept your feet moving, while the music was sleek and hypnotic.
Headlining the show, Brandon Flowers put on an amazing performance. Photos were not allowed during his set, so readers will need to imagine that The Killers lead singer was immaculately dressed as he sashayed with style and grace.
In the end though, Flowers sounded fantastic. While his solo stuff was fun to hear, the highlights, judging from the crowd, were The Killers songs that he played.
The show, as a whole, featured two jewels. Rey Pila remains uncut but wonderful, and Brandon Flowers is and always will be a precious gem.
Filed Under: Featured, Photos Tagged With: Brandon Flowers, Fox Theater Oakland, Live 105, Rey Pila
Outside Lands 2015: Lineup locks, likely acts & long shots
March 11, 2015 by The Bam Team 15 Comments
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival //
Golden Gate Park – San Francisco
August 7th-9th, 2015 //
UPDATE: The lineup has been announced. View the full lineup here.
Outside Lands 2015 speculation season may now commence.
For the first year, wristbands will be used for all three-day GA and VIP tickets instead of paper tickets or PDF printouts. Could this be a sign that single-day tickets are a thing of the past?
As a comparison, Coachella moved over to wristbands the same year single-day tickets were abolished. If Superfly and Another Planet can sell out the entire weekend with only three-day passes, than why wouldn't they punt on the one-day option?
We've looked at tour dates, researched competing festivals and considered Outside Lands' curation history. Squamish Valley Music Festival in BC may be the same weekend from August 7th-9th, but those large metal flying birds make it so musicians can easily do both fests.
The same goes for acts booked in Europe the week after Outside Lands — many artists will play Lollapalooza or Osheaga, followed by Outside Lands, then they cross the pond for mid-August festivals abroad.
If you have a lead or opinion, drop us a comment below. We'll be updating this list as new developments happen. So, allow us to play Nostradamus and offer these predictions.
Lock It In
Kendrick Lamar – Ranger D tweeted he DLed KDot's new album on March 16th, and he's also headlining Bonnaroo.
Mumford and Sons – OSL fits their schedule between Squamish and their Washington "stopover."
Tame Impala – These Aussie psych-rockers and APE loyalists are ready for a prime-time slot.
Deadmau5 – The mouse is atop many major lineups, including Bonnaroo, so his return to OSL seems logical.
St. Vincent – Annie Clark is worthy of headliner status, and she's confirmed for Osheaga.
Sam Smith – The big question remains: Is he a Land's End or Twin Peaks headliner?
Bassnectar – This APE regular is long overdue to helm Twin Peaks for a hometown blowout.
Hot Chip – Basically confirmed via Twitter. And they're in LA on August 11th.
Wilco – The stars are aligning … Tweedy, Cline and company are confirmed for LA on August 5th.
Alabama Shakes – Playing Squamish. Remember how packed their first OSL appearance was?!?!
Run the Jewels – Accidentally confirmed on RTJ's tour page and would mark OSL's first B2B booking.
Sylvan Esso – They've played The Independent and Fox Theater Oakland in the past year, and they'll be in the Midwest the week after OSL.
Django Django – Playing in LA on August 6th.
!!! (chk chk chk) – Played OSL four years ago, and they're touring with Hot Chip in LA on August 11th.
Jeff the Brotherhood – Dates open and booked for Mumford "stopover" up north in Walla Walla.
Laura Marling – Playing LA on August 6th and a perfect selection for a Sutro Stage. (added March 17th)
Seems Likely
Brandon Flowers
Gorgon City
Slow Magic
Looking Plausible
Drake (Downgraded to "Looking Plausible" 3/16)
Florence + The Machine (upgraded to "Looking Plausible" on March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Axwell Λ Ingrosso
alt-J (upgraded on March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
The Decemberists (upgraded on March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Father John Misty (upgraded to "Looking Plausible" on March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Long Shot (but could happen)
Weezer (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Jack Ü
Nas (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Gary Clark Jr. (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Action Bronson (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Viet Cong (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
Marina & the Diamonds
MS MR (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
San Fermin (added March 18th with Osheaga announcement)
View our predictions from 2014.
Filed Under: Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Action Bronson, Alabama Shakes, Alt-J, Alvvays, Awolnation, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Bahamas, Bassnectar, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Harper, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Benjamin Booker, Brandon Flowers, Burce Springsteen, Caribou, Chance The Rapper, Charli XCX, CHK CHK CHK, D'Angelo, D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Deadmau5, Death from Above 1979, Django Django, Drake, Elton John, Father John Misty, First Aid Kit, Florence & the Machine, Flying Lotus, Future Islands, Gary Clark Jr, Glass Animals, Golden Gate Park, Gorgon City, Hiss Golden Messenger, Hot Chip, Hozier, Interpol, Jack Ü, Jack White, Jamie xx, JEFF the Brotherhood, Kendrick Lamar, Kygo, Laura Marling, Marina and the Diamonds, Milky Chance, MS MR, Mumford & Sons, Nas, Odesza, Of Monsters and Men, Outside Lands, Outside Lands 2015, Outside Lands Music Festival, Outside Lands Music Festival 2015, Predictions, Rumors, Run The Jewels, Sam Smith, San Fermin, Schoolboy Q, Slightly Stoopid, Slow Magic, St. Vincent, Strand of Oaks, Stromae, Sylvan Esso, Tame Impala, The Avett Brothers, The Black Keys, The Decemberists, The Kills, The War on Drugs, Todd Terje, Toro Y Moi, TV on the Radio, Viet Cong, Weezer, Wilco


Vacations are supposed to reduce stress, not create it. But that's not always the case. Just planning a vacation can be pretty darn stressful. Now, Google wants to remove all those vacation anxieties—or at least some of them.
Today, the company launched Google Trips, a new mobile app dedicated to trip planning. You key in where you want to go, and it helps you arrange everything from hotel and dinner reservations to sightseeing. Based on your tastes, needs, and available time, it provides daily itineraries for 200 cities across the globe, automatically assembling the most popular attractions and local experiences into a neatly packaged tour, using data from the visits of other travelers.
Once you book your trip, it collects all your reservations in a single location. And once you start your trip, if you tap on the "magic wand" button, the app gives you a new daily itinerary updated with nearby attractions.
The app is part of Google's larger efforts to build consumer tech that simplify your life through data-driven artificial intelligence. In recent months, the company has also unveiled a new chat app, Allo, and a new living room appliance, Google Home, that seek to better understand and respond to your needs using deep neural networks, networks of hardware and software that learn tasks by analyzing vast amounts of data. And using similar technology, the Google Photos app can instantly search your photo collection for particular objects or even behavior, like, say, a hug.
All this, in turn, is part of a much larger boom in the tech world around artificial intelligence. Tech's biggest players, from Amazon to Facebook to Apple are using deep learning to reinvent everything from speech recognition to security. Google Trips is the latest example.


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Economics and Society
Data and AI: fostering innovation at European level
EuHubs4data, a project funded by the European Union, seeks to make a big contribution to the growth of European SMEs, start-ups and web-based companies in the global data economy. How? By providing them with a European catalogue of data-driven solutions and services in an effort to foster innovation in this field. The project was launched on 1 September 2020 and will run for three years, with a budget of €12.5 Million. It brings together 12 Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) across 9 European Union countries. One of these innovation hubs is TeraLab, IMT's big data and artificial intelligence platform. An interview with Natalie Cernecka, Head of Business Development at TeraLab.
What are the goals of the EuHubs4data project, in which TeraLab is a partner?
Natalie Cernecka The goal of the project is to bring together services provided by European big data hubs to take full advantage of the benefits offered by the various members of the network.
There are nearly 200 digital innovation hubs (DIH) in Europe. Some of them are specialized in data. Individually, these hubs are highly effective: they provide various services related to data and act as a link between SMEs in the digital sector and other companies and organizations. At the European level, however, interconnection between these hubs is sorely lacking, which is why the idea of a unified network is so important.
The project will foster collaboration and exchange between existing hubs and provide a solid foundation for a European data economy to meet the growing data needs of SMEs in the digital sector and start-ups that work with technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). The focus will be on system interoperability and data sharing. The project is therefore an important step towards implementing the European Commission plan to strengthen Europe's data economy and digital sovereignty.
How will you achieve these goals?
NC: The project focuses on two areas: supply and demand. On the supply side, we'll be working on the catalogue of services and datasets and on providing training opportunities in big data and AI. On the demand side, we'll be carrying out experiments, with three open call sessions, along with an extensive awareness program aimed at getting hundreds of companies and organizations involved and encouraging them to innovate with data.
EuHubs4data offers a catalogue of services for SMEs, start-ups and web companies. Could you give us some concrete examples of such services?
NC: The goal is to propose a single catalogue presenting the various services offered by project partners and their respective ecosystems. For example, TeraLab could provide access to its data sharing platform, while a second partner could offer access to datasets, and a third could provide data analysis tools or training opportunities. The companies will benefit from a comprehensive catalogue and may in turn offer their customers innovative services.
12 digital innovation hubs located in 9 European countries are partners in this project. How will this federation be structured?
NC: The structuring of this federation will be specified over the course of the project. The consortium is headed by the Instituto Tecnológico de Informática in Valencia, Spain and includes DIHs and major European players in the field of big data – such as the Big Data Value Association, in which IMT is a member, and the International Data Spaces Association, which is at the center of GAIA-X and includes IMT as the French representative. A number of initiatives focus on structuring and expanding this ecosystem. The structure has to be flexible enough to incorporate new members, whether over the course of the project or in the distant future.
What will TeraLab's specific role be?
NC: TeraLab's role in the project is threefold. First, it is responsible for the work package in charge of establishing the catalogue of services, the central focus of the project. Second, TeraLab will provide its big data and AI platform along with its expertise in securing data. And third, as a DIH, TeraLab will accompany experiments and open calls, which will use the catalogue of services and datasets.
Read more on I'MTech | Artificial Intelligence: TeraLab becomes a European digital innovation hub
What are some important steps coming up for the project?
NC: The open calls! The first will be launched in December 2020; that means that the first iteration of the catalogue should be ready at that time. The experiments will begin in spring 2021. TeraLab will follow them very closely and accompany several participating companies, to better understand their needs in terms of services, data and the use of the catalogue, in order to improve its use.
Learn more about the EUHubs4Data project :
Interview by Véronique Charlet
Cleaning up polluted tertiary wastewater from the agri-food industry with floating wetlands
Antoine Fécant, winner of the 2021 IMT-Académie des Sciences Young Scientist Prize
David Gesbert, winner of the 2021 IMT-Académie des Sciences Grand Prix
Learn more about IMT
Institut Mines-Telecom is a public institution dedicated to Higher Education and Research for Innovation in the fields of engineering and digital technology. Always tuned into the economic world, it combines high academic and scientific legitimacy with a practical proximity to business and a unique positioning in 3 major transformations of the 21st century: Digital Affairs, Energy and Ecology, and Industry. Its training and research for innovation are rolled out in the Mines and Telecom Graduate Schools under the supervision of the Minister for Industry and Electronic Communications. Institut Mines-Télécom is a founding member of the Industry of the Future Alliance. It maintains close relationships with the economic world and has two Carnot Institutes. Every year around one hundred startup companies leave its incubators.
I'MTech is the IMT science and technology news website. It is published by the Research & Innovation Department.
Editor in chief: Jérôme Vauselle
Writers: Véronique Charlet, Anaïs Culot, Manon Lamoureux, Diane Rottner, Jérôme Vauselle, Benjamin Vignard.


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IT'S been well over two years since the referendum, and Theresa May has finally agreed a Brexit deal with the European Union. A huge 585-page Withdrawal Agreement has been produced: the result of protracted and sometimes painful negotiations between European and British diplomats. People could be forgiven for thinking that this is the beginning of the end of the Brexit process. In reality, it is merely the end of the beginning.
Untangling 45 years of legal, economic and political integration between the UK and 27 other countries is not a simple task, to say the least. The main proponents of the UK leaving the EU – the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox – promised us all that it would all be so easy. The German car makers would force the EU to capitulate to British demands. The trade deals we enjoy by being part of the EU with the likes of South Korea, Japan, and Canada would automatically roll over the day after Brexit. We could enjoy all the benefits of the EU without any of the obligations, financial or otherwise.
Regrettably, none of this has come to pass. A sizeable minority of MPs, including me, voted against the triggering of Article 50, not because we wanted to stop or thwart Brexit, but because it was patently obvious that the Government had no plan for negotiating a deal that would safeguard our economy, protect workers' and environmental rights and ultimately, be in the interests of the entire country, rather than just the Conservative Party.
Brexit has now taken up virtually all breathing space in politics. In Parliament, legislation in the Commons and Select Committee hearings are dominated by Brexit or the effects thereof, including contemplating the worst case scenario of "no deal".
The time has come for choices. I've been talking to local small businesses, who are being forced to move operations and jobs overseas in order to remain financially viable through access to the EU market and the European workforce. This is because Theresa May decided to go for a deal that will ultimately see us out of the Single Market and out of the Customs Union. MPs will be voting to accept or reject the prime minister's Brexit deal, and then what to do should the deal be defeated. I think that a People's Vote is inevitable in that scenario, and believe it would be a perfectly sensible way to resolved what would be a major constitutional and political impasse.
That means that local residents, too, may have choices to make. A recent poll indicated that 62 per cent of residents in east Bristol support a People's Vote, and 59 per cent of residents want to see the UK remain in the EU, which both show an increase in support for the EU since 2016. I've held Brexit Q+A sessions across the constituency, to try to answer any questions that local residents have had on this issue. My office has also dealt with several hundred individual enquiries about Brexit over the last year.
Ultimately, all decisions I make in relation to Brexit or any other policy matter are done so with the best interests of citizens and businesses in east Bristol at their core. I will not support anything that makes my constituency, our city, or our country poorer.


WASHINGTON, DC, USA (AP) — To whip up a monstrous storm like the one chugging for the Carolinas you need a handful of ingredients — and Florence has them all.
Warmer-than-normal sea temperatures to add energy and rain to a storm — Check.
A wind pattern that allows a storm to get strong and stay strong — Check.
Higher sea levels to make a storm surge worse — Check.
A storm covering an enormous area, to drench and lash more people — Check.
And an unusual combination of other weather systems that are likely to stall Florence when it hits the Carolinas, allowing it to sit for days and dump huge amounts of rain — Check.
The National Hurricane Center is predicting 10 to 20 inches of rain and 30 inches in isolated spots. But a computer simulation known as the European model predicts some places could get 45 inches. Sound unlikely? It's the same model that accurately predicted that last year's Hurricane Harvey, which also stalled over land, would drop 60 inches.
But a weather formation known as a high-pressure ridge is parked over the US east coast, preventing Florence from doing the normal turn, said University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy.
After Florence makes landfall, that ridge, now over Washington and New York, will move east but be replaced by another one forming over the Great Lakes that will likely keep the storm stuck, McNoldy said.
Florence's path remains uncertain. It may move a little north into Virginia or a little south into South Carolina. But it's such a large storm that the rain will keep coming down in the region no matter where it wanders. And with the Appalachian Mountains to the west there could be flooding and mudslides, experts worry.
Florence's large size — tropical storm force winds extend 170 miles from the centre in all directions — means its fury will arrive long before the centre of the storm comes ashore, Graham said.
Some of Florence's behaviour, both what has been seen so far and what experts expect, show the influence of climate change.
Its expected sluggishness is becoming more common and is a result of climate change, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientist and hurricane expert Jim Kossin.
The ocean waters that Florence is travelling over are about 2.7 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal, McNoldy said. Even normal water is warm enough for a storm to form there, but this adds to the storm's fuel and its rainfall. Plus, the air is holding 10 per cent more water that can be dumped as rain.


I was born in 1933 in Frankly Terrace, Harbourne, next to the swimming baths and when I was six months old my mother moved to Woodhouse road with eight children. My father walked out and left her, so she had the option of putting us in the Harbourne Bluecoat School but she said "No, I had you, I'll keep you". She did exactly that, working three jobs a day, she worked for Furber's as an undertaker, at the picture house in Harbourne nicknamed the flea house and another picture house named the Royalty. During the night time we would sit on the floor and pin the flag for the lifebuoy while listening to Wilfred Pickles, Have a Go Joe and the Man in Black.
As we got older, my brother or one of our sisters would walk from the Woodhouse road to the law courts every Thursday to see if my father had left any money, nine times out of ten he hadn't. When I was twelve years of age I worked in Court Oak road next door to Helen's and George's (the paper shop), it had an ice cream parlour to the side and I worked there three days a week for two and six – I gave the money to mum, so I didn't keep it. When I was fourteen I got a new job and worked for him until I had Cheryl in 1961.
Me and my husband actually met around there, I was eighteen years old at the time and worked in the paper shop while John worked in the butchers on the corner. It was a Monday morning and I took the paper in, I saw John and told my boss "He looks a lovely man there", on the Wednesday morning I went into the butchers without even knowing his name and asked what he was doing that day, he asked why and I said I'd take him to the pictures. We were married for sixty-one years.
We bought a house in West Boulevard in 1956, we sold it in 1977 to buy a shop in Quinton road West named "The VG Shop", VG standing for very good, me and John had eighteen wonderful years there until retirement. Having the shop, we had no social life because of being so busy, we were lucky to get into here, giving us a much better one. At the shop I'd do homemade cakes and sandwiches for police every day, they used to phone up and order them, picking them up at about twelve o'clock. When we bought it the stock was run down, all they sold was VG cornflakes and jam, they let it get that way and by the time we left it was a thriving business. That's why a lot of people know me, I've been in Quinton the whole of my life.
Pictured below - Lyn and her husband featured in the Chronicle newspaper.
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