text:
DOJ Prosecutors 'Sandbagged' Clare Bronfman
The great and glorious Vanguard not only stripped Clare Bronfman of scores of millions of dollars, he stripped her of her clothing and made her wear a jockstrap. Lastly, he stripped her of her freedom. She is going to prison soon.
Frank Parlato
In my post. If Clare Bronfman Flees to Fiji, She Must Do It Before Sentencing!, I raised two concepts:
1: That Clare might flee to her private island in Fiji where it will be possible for her to avoid extradition and even have her sentence legally commuted by Fiji judges which would be binding in the US.
2: The consideration at sentencing by the judge of the statements of alleged victims who were not part of the crimes Clare pleaded guilty to seems to be an abridgment of her due process rights. She'll never get a chance to cross-examine her new accusers. The judge has ruled that alleged victims may simply appear at her sentencing – without even stating their full names – and make any declaration about her alleged crimes without her being able to confront her accusers. All Clare will get is a chance to make her own statement to the judge before he announces her sentence.
The judge apparently is going to consider the alleged victims' statements as part of his process of determining her sentence.
He has already announced that it will likely be higher than the estimate made by the prosecution at the time of her guilty plea hearing. She pleaded guilty to identity theft and harboring an illegal alien for profit in April 2019.
The original estimate, the prosecution said, of her sentencing guidelines carries a range of 21-27 months. Her subsequent Pre-Sentencing Report and the spate of alleged victims who have come forward to write victim impact statements and intend to speak at her sentencing have caused a re-estimate of her sentencing guidelines – in an upward direction.
The public has not seen the report.
No one, least of all myself, thinks she deserves only two years in prison. I am one of the alleged victims of the ruthless one, although I do not plan to speak at her sentencing.
When we heard the plea deal, all who fought Nxivm groaned, and felt that she 'bought down' her sentence in part with her $6 million fine.
Clare Bronfman leaving court with her high priced attorney, Mark Geragos. These two thought they crafted a pretty sweet plea deal but it turns out they were wrong.
Here was the worst woman in Nxivm getting just about the lightest sentence. I wanted to see her charged with some of the additional crimes she clearly committed during her 17-year reign of terror in Nxivm.
But I do object to not charging her with crimes – but sentencing her for them anyways – by taking unchallenged statements of various alleged victims and adding to her sentence, consequently.
I recognize that before Clare pleaded guilty before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, he warned her that he was not bound to anything the prosecution estimated and that she could face up to 25 years if she got the max sentence for both of her admitted crimes and he was to decide that they should run consecutively.
The sadistic dunce, with her high powered and expensive attorneys, chose to take it on trust that the judge would adopt the prosecution's estimated guidelines.
She was wrong.
But let's be fair.
The prosecution team of l-r Tanya Hajjar, Mark Lesko, and Moira Penza made a deal with Clare Bronfman. They left a few things open to trust –and Clare bought in.
The same prosecution that estimated her sentencing guidelines at 21-27 months, at the time they wanted to encourage her to make a plea deal, later went about calling dozens of alleged victims, urging them to make victim impact statements, which they knew quite well would impact her sentencing.
In other words, the prosecution sandbagged Clare – much like she and Raniere sandbagged others in their business and legal dealings.
I should know. It happened to me. I signed a contract with her. She wired the money to me that was called for in the contract in order to get the work accomplished. But she never signed the contract. I did the work.
Then she asked for the money back based on the fact that there was no contract.
When I refused, since I did the work, and she breached the contract, Clare filed a civil suit against me claiming there was no written contract and sued me for the money back.
OK, fair enough. Let's litigate it.
But then the vile one filed a criminal complaint against me with the Department of Justice. When Clare went before the grand jury, she told the opposite story that she claimed in the civil case. She perjured herself and testified that there was a written contract between her and me.
Marie White painting of the three liars who worked together to indict me – Attorney Bill Savino, Clare Bronfman, and corrupt former Assistant US Attorney Anthony Bruce.
The reason she did that was without a contract, there could be no criminal fraud. So she lied. [Assistant US Attorney Anthony Bruce knew she was lying and suborned her perjury.]
Clare said there was a written contract when it was necessary to get a criminal charge and said there was no contract because that helped her in her civil suit.
I get why she did that. Her testimony in the grand jury is secret. No one would know until after I was indicted what she said.
The civil suit was public.
The curious dunce probably thought she could get away with claiming one thing about the contract in civil court – under oath – and claiming the exact opposite in the secrecy of the grand jury, also under oath.
Unfortunately for her, the grand jury minutes of her testimony were released to me as part of what is called Brady Material [exculpatory information that prosecutors are required to reveal to defendants] and the little booger was caught.
Her perjury caused the DOJ to drop the Bronfman charges against me.
And funny, today, she was equally sandbagged as I was.
The DOJ offered her a plea deal that suggested she would get 21-27 months. Then they went about assiduously making sure she got sentenced to much more – by corralling dozens of alleged victims and even fighting to ensure they will be able to step forward in court with confidence and anonymity.
The prosecution just won a successful motion whereby the judge ruled the alleged victims [who seem to be anyone the prosecution decides is a victim] can publicly denounce Clare without revealing their identities to the public [though Clare will know their identities] as part of her sentencing hearing.
Without that anonymity, I estimated that instead of dozens of alleged victims coming forward, only a handful would be speaking.
In other words, I would call what the prosecution did to Clare almost as slick as what she did to others for years. She used her superior wealth and power to crush people. Now it's the feds who have superior power and wealth and they gave her a splendid dose of her own medicine.
Marie White's depiction of Clare Bronfman
So, yes, while I think that Clare's due process rights have been abrogated, I have mixed feelings. She certainly deserves to go to prison for many more years than two years and now likely will do more time.
But the concept rankles me. She should have been charged with the various crimes that her alleged victims will claim she did.
For me, due process trumps even an evil princess of darkness like Clare Bronfman getting her comeuppance.
Just sayin' says:
Frank, note the attached re unsigned contract
https://www.schlamstone.com/unsigned-employment-agreement-void-under-statute-of-frauds/
Once again the great Frank Parlato is magnanimous to a fault and 100% right.
In all seriousness, the DOJ and the judiciary are literally circumventing the constitution.
Using allegations of criminal acts to sentence a criminal circumvents due process.
Sentencing guidelines of between 2 years and 20 years is insane. Does that make logical sense to any sane [except for Shadow] adult with a college education?
shadowstate1958 says:
The number of victims of the NXIVM crime machine is staggering.
All of the major NXIVM defendants, with the possible exception of Kathy Russell, face a potential tsunami of Victim Impact Statements.
And many of these victims are represented by lawyers like Neil Glazer who was quite adamant in insisting that his clients are telling the truth about the criminal behavior of Keith Raniere, Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman.
"Nxivm Victims' Attorney Neil Glazer Speaks Out on Defamatory Commenters"
https://frankreport.com/2019/08/05/nxivm-victims-attorney-neil-glazer-speaks-out-on-defamatory-commenters/
Scott Johnson says:
It's called posturing, Glazer is far from the first lawyer to play that card. It's also called puffery.
Glazer is looking for a big pay day.
"Nicole" and "Jaye" don't have enough money.
Glazer is looking to feed his ego.
Bangkok says:
I will comment on the contract issue brought up.
I hope that Frank prevails in court. I think the government is overcharging him.
However, if Clare didn't SIGN the contract then she can't be bound by its written terms, regardless of whether or not she wired the money to Frank.
Merely wiring money to another person/business doesn't bind you to written contract terms that are not signed UNLESS there's other witnesses (or actions) which the court can use to deduce the true 'intent' of the person who wired the money.
In this case, it's just he said/she said.
Frank is up shit creek without a paddle.
Did Frank consult an attorney back in 2008? I doubt it. Or his attorney was a bona fide IDIOT.
Why didn't Frank get the contract signed if he's so experienced at getting land developed?
If Clare refused to SIGN the contract, as I'm guessing she did, it tells me there was a DISPUTE about what the money was being paid for and Frank simply chose to ignore that dispute and HOPE that a court might side with him.
If Clare was TRULY on board with Frank's contract terms, as Frank claims, then WHY did she refuse to sign the contract?
I'd like Frank to give us an answer.
It takes 30 seconds to sign and fax a contract.
Clearly she didn't want to agree to Frank's contract terms, else she'd have signed it.
With regard to Clare's perjury…
It doesn't matter if Clare said one thing in a civil trial but said another thing in a grand jury hearing, as it doesn't prove which version of Clare's contract claims are valid. It only proves that nobody knows which version of Clare's contract claims are true. It may prove that Clare can lie, but it doesn't prove that she agreed to those specific contract terms.
Frank should have gotten the signature or returned the money.
I suspect that Frank's business attorney (back in 2008) was an idiot or simply didn't exist.
Frank Parlato says:
I will explain it all in a post. But the short answer is that I was already deeply involved in the project – rescuing some 30 properties and getting them under control for development.
I was expecting their signature but – and this is stupid – I trusted them.
I recovered $26 million in assets for them that Keith mismanaged – much like the commodities. They would have lost it except I got in between. I don't think Keith was too happy about that.
Within a few weeks of recovering their assets – they/Keith [through their attorney Bob Crockett] asked for the money back and told me to take a walk. I felt they breached the contract after getting my services. Which was a shitty thing to do.
My position is — if there was no contract, then what was the understanding about the one million they wired to me?
This has to be litigated. That is why I never spent the money. I have been trying to get Clare deposed for this lawsuit. But she keeps dodging a deposition. I understand she has a lot on her mind. I also tried to get Sara Bronfman deposed and she refuses to come into the country. No, I don't think they are going to do well at trial. If they refuse to be deposed, then the judge will order a judgment in my favor – as per the rules of civil procedure in NYS.
Frank has a very strong case. Someone doesn't just give $1 million to someone without some intent on what it is to be used for, and if the person they gave the money to provides a valuable service, then the preponderance of the evidence goes to the person who provided the valuable service, in this case getting a $26 million return.
Orge N. Ledsemaj says:
I rarely comment here but I must express my voice to say I want no bad sentence for Clare who is a good person who has helped many people.
Ice-nine says:
James Del Negro in reverse lol. Well done nikki.
Pea Onyu says:
Clare has been treated horribly. The tricked her and they pretend to have the moral high ground. Our wonderful Legatus who gave so much to help people is being treated like a criminal. The real criminals are the prosecutors and the judge.
#FreeLegatusNow
Pea:
Who has provided Charger426hemi1 with all of those photos of Alison Mack?
Over 180 photos.
Is it Allison Mack?
Is Allison Mack Charger426hemi1?
Clifton Parker says:
"I am one of the alleged victims of the ruthless one, although I do not plan to speak at her sentencing."
Very curious, Frank — did you WRITE a letter to the judge? Or were you interviewed by the pre-sentencing investigator?
No. I did not write a letter to the judge. I was also not contacted by the DOJ or interviewed by the pre-sentencing investigator. Clare did not plead guilty to any offenses related to me – though her easily provable perjury was a more serious crime than merely harboring Sylvie or helping Raniere use the late Pam Cafrtiz's credit card. After all, she tried to steal my freedom by perjury.
I sometimes think that her evil deeds have come back to her as karma so I do not feel blue about what I think is the abrogation of her due process rights. I am not sure I want to participate in that however.
A letter from you would be a great [lack of] character statement regarding Bronfman. Whether it would be admissible is a different question.
Here is a quote from a document called "Primer: Victims' Rights (U.S. Sentencing Commission, January 2019; https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/training/primers/2019_Primer_Crime_Victims.pdf): "Because victim impact statements, whether oral or written, are made in the context of a sentencing hearing, neither the Federal Rules of Evidence nor the defendant's Sixth Amendment confrontation clause protections apply to statements or allocution."
While the writers say those presenting impact statements must be victims of the crime in question, they also say the individual court has great "latitude" in choosing to hear from people who can offer insight into the "background" and "character" of the defendant.
While I agree with Frank that such latitude could very well amount to a departure from due process, the impact statements themselves do not grant the judge anymore latitude than he or she already has.
Clare got cheated by the prosecutors and so did Keith
I think sending Frank $1 million IS a contract.
Nobody was "sandbagged," Bronfman's very experienced and very highly-paid lawyers know how the system works. They probably tried to get a guaranteed deal and the DOJ wouldn't give it to them, so they rolled the dice and came up snake-eyes. It's not a surprise, since Bronfman IS a snake in the grass. The judge's clear warnings during the guilty plea hearing are evidence there was no real deal. Bronfman and her lawyers will get to object to any written sentencing complaints against her, so there is a process for her to push back, but it's limited because she's a convicted felon.
In the event Frank is found guilty, hopefully lots of people will write letters and show up at his sentencing hearing describing the good he has done to take down NXIVM and other bad behavior, such as the Niagara Falls boat tour scam in order to EARN a lighter sentence, just as Bronfman's behavior will EARN her a heavier sentence. That's how it works. Complain about it all you want, I very much doubt you can change it in your lifetime, even if you were just born.
Alleging crimes and proving them beyond a reasonable doubt are two very different things. The judge is only allowed to give Bronfman a higher sentence than he otherwise would, but not beyond the maximum for the crimes she was convicted of. Again, that's how it works. How one lives their life outside of the specific crimes they were convicted of DOES count, and this is HOW it counts in a court of law. Case closed.
You are very negative in general . Frank will be free
I have to agree with that. And I will soon prove it too.
Mexican lady says:
Go Frank !!! 💕💕💕
It's not a question of being "negative," trials are very unpredictable. It's one reason why both sides often prefer settlements.
I think you should talk at her sentencing. This is the last bit. You have worked so hard. Do this last thing. It's like working out all year and then when u have the date with a hot girl, you forget to shower. Do the last bit, Frank
Nutjob says:
Great analogy! I hate it when that happens…
Nutjob,
Don't worry I'm sure your "paid dates" don't shower either. There are no showers at the methadone clinic.
Don't knock it. No need to work out all year long if I'm just gonna pay for it anyways.
Did Clare deceive her attorneys? says:
Was the mistake Clare's attorneys made was believing her?
Maybe Clare lied to her attorneys convincing them there would be no more harmful evidence to come out against her in Keith's trial, so it would be wise to take the (generous) plea deal. And maybe she even believed it, thinking her crimes were covered up—or not thinking because she still suffered from Nx mindfucking.
Catherine Oxenberg's Sister, Christina, Says She Attended Ghislaine Maxwell's Semi-Nude Tea Party
Bangkok: Clare Bronfman Is Not Going to Flee to Fiji and It's Fair to Hammer Her at Sentencing


For work I have about 10 pairs of boots in different styles and colours. The heel heights range from just over 3″ to just over 4″. You can't really miss them, even with male trousers covering them.
For all this time 'that' conversation hasn't happened. Not really too surprising in my own office which only has one female in it. Do the males notice, I've no idea. My stride has shortened and slowed to the extent that the sound of my heels is much less than some of the clod hoppers. And perhaps there's caution in certain individuals who might comment since they have a record of bullying someone who was trans and losing in the tribunal.
Today that conversation happened. The lower two floors have a 75% female work force and one who I've occasionally talked to brought up the boots. Expecting to be somewhat defensive I was warmly surprised when she said how much she liked the colours and styles she's seen me wear.
There's no doubt that since Christmas melody has increasingly spilled over in to the vanilla world. What's presented at work is now a thin veneer of 'him' but it's melody increasingly in control underneath.
A conversation that should have scared him rigid turned out to be fun for her and another degree of validation and acceptance in the vanilla world. So far melody has been okay with being around strangers. This was someone I'll see potentially every day who could have given sly looks and whispered behind my back, yet out of the blue showed acceptance and made my morning.
Here's a picture of today's boots. You can't pretend that they are designed for male wear and melody's not trying to pretend anymore.
Reading this makes me really happy for you!
I know that some such conversations are liable to be hostile, for the first one to turn out this way is good for the memory bank.
I have the most hugest of smiles on my face reading your words today.


Scrooge's Dog Blog: Bad dog! Bad dog!!!! And it do not be ME!!!
Bad dog! Bad dog!!!! And it do not be ME!!!
Oh, I do be SO excited!!!
I do not runned away for a very long time so I do be a good dog!!
But Kali DO runned away!!
Kali do runned away from we yard and getted in T R O U B L E!!!!
She do beed taking we bins out for the truck mans to come empty and we do getted very excited cuz we do thinked She might could like to taked we for a car ride so we do jumped all around She's feet until She do getted to we zapper fence but then I stopped cuz I do be a GOOD dog but Kali do just keeped right on going and she do goed to see a lady that was working by we house and she do thinked she will liked to follow that lady!!
Kali do be a BAD girl to go across we zapper fence, huh?!!
But she do comed back when She do called she, though, instead of running away to maked She play the follow me game the way I do liked to do.
Now She do had to go to buy batteries but She do sayed no, we do not getted to go with She. Too bad! I do liked to go for car rides!
I do thinked we jessa should come to taked we for a car ride now she do getted she license!
That do be a good idea, huh? Do you thinked so? I do thinked so!
We never get to do that. we're always on leashes when we go out. Glad that everything is okay though.
I hope u get a fun car ride!
Aswell, I think in general Kali is a very good girl!
She do beed a little bit bossy sometimes though!


text:
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Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here is a set of English Quiz for SSC CHSL 2015.
whether to do it or not.
bad, and his honesty is not _______ suspicion.
on the petition before it was taken up for discussion.
newly formed states _____ constantly.
word and mark it in the Answer Sheet.
speaking about one's thoughts when one is alone.
objectionable part from a book.


Leighton Meester's "Birthday" — Hit the Dance Floor or Leave the Club?
Leighton Meester is trying to break into the music world, and her first single, a version of Awesome New Republic's "Birthday," just leaked onto the Internet. She isn't the only Gossip Girl cast member with musical aspirations, and now that filming has wrapped for the season, she can focus full time on her singing. She's had success on TV, but recording is a whole different world. So tell us what you think of her song — does it make you want to hit the dance floor or leave the club?


text:
Study Shows Trump Supporters Heavy Reliance on Conspiracy Theory Sites in 2016
By Andrea Ruth | Aug 24, 2017 11:06 AM ET
Conspiracy theorist Jones hemmed and hawed Sunday, June 18, when pressed repeatedly by Megyn Kelly to admit he was wrong to call the massacre at Newton, Conn., a hoax. (Tamir Kalifa/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)
It's hardly shocking that an extensive study of which news sites both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton supporters linked to on social media during the 2016 campaign would show Trump's backers to have an affinity for hoax and conspiracy theory sites.
The study from Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society included 4.5 million tweets from users who also either retweeted Trump or Clinton. It then analyzed the linked URLs shared on their Twitter feeds and this was the result.
Gateway Pundit, Conservative Treehouse, Truthfeed, and Infowars are all in the top 15 of shared sites of users who supported Donald Trump.
As The Washington Post points out,
Fourth on the list of most-shared sources among Trump supporters on Twitter was Gateway Pundit, a site especially notorious for trafficking in hoaxes and falsehoods. No. 13 on the list was InfoWars, Alex Jones's conspiracy theory website, which is infamous for suggesting the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, among many other things.
Also ranking in the top 15 were two other highly suspect sources of news, the Conservative Treehouse and Truthfeed. (For examples of what these sites purvey, click here and here.)
Unsurprisingly, RedState was not in the top sites shared by Trump supporters. It is worth noting, however, that mainstream conservative leaning news sources, such as the Washington Free Beacon, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Times were lower on the list than one would expect.
Clinton supporters weren't immune to clickbait either, the study found.
The study's authors put it this way:
While we observe highly partisan and clickbait news sites on both sides of the partisan divide, especially on Facebook, on the right these sites received amplification and legitimation through an attention backbone that tied the most extreme conspiracy sites like Truthfeed, Infowars, through the likes of Gateway Pundit and Conservative Treehouse, to bridging sites like the Daily Caller and Breitbart that legitimated and normalized the paranoid style that came to typify the right-wing ecosystem in the 2016 election. This attention backbone relied heavily on social media.
As Trump made waves pushing the Obama birther conspiracy theory it makes sense his ardent backers would be attracted to sites like Infowars and Gateway Pundit, of which the Trump administration further legitimized by granting them White House press credentials.


text:
You are here: ALRM Group > Executive Team > Vice President Chile
Col (ret'd), Dr. Arturo Contreras, VP Chile
Col (ret'd) Arturo Contreras is the Vice-President of ALRM Group Chile and as such oversees all its operations since 2019. A retired Colonel of the Chilean Army, he is a Staff Officer and Professor of the Military Academy in the subject of Military History and Strategy. He received a PhD in American Studies from the University of Santiago de Chile, and holds a MA in Security and Defense from the Complutense University of Madrid and MA in Military Sciences from the War Academy.
Dr. Polgati has taught on issues of strategy and international security at the University of Santiago de Chile, the War Academy, the University of Chile and the ANEPE's Security and Defense Department among others. He is a Founding Professor of the Manuel Bulnes Chair on Security, Defense and Society at the University of Santiago de Chile. Since 2010 to date, he has delivered presentations at more than 290 conferences on Strategy, Geopolitics and International Security topics in various specialized forums in Europe, the United States and Latin America.
During his military career, he commanded the Artillery Regiment No.5 "Antofagasta", served as a Staff Officer/Chief of Operations of the II Division, followed by a stint at the Army HQ, where he participated in the creation of the Army Communication Department. He acted as Army's Head of Internal Relations and director of the Official Publications of the Army. Following his assignment as Deputy Military Attaché in Spain, Arturo became Deputy Director of the National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies and the Chief of International Affairs of the Army. His last post was as Deputy Director of Army Operations, a position where he participated in the coordination and deployment in 72 hrs. of the Chile Battalion to Haiti. Dr. Polgati is an author and co-author of many books and articles on topics of modern strategic thinking, intelligence operations and contemporary conflicts.


text:
Ron@Maltiel-consulting.com - Semiconductor & Patent Expert Consulting
Litigation expert consultant and patent expert witness for process, device, and circuit of Dynamic
Ram (DRAM), Flash (NAND, NOR, EEPROM), and Static Ram (SRAM) Memories,
and Microprocessor, Logic, and Analog Devices.
Intel rolls out solid-state drives
Rick Merritt
(08/19/2008 7:38 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210101914
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Intel Corp. launched a family of solid-state drives Tuesday (Aug. 19) claiming significant performance advances over its many competitors. However, the company would not reveal prices, an Achilles heel of the emerging storage devices.
Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo said they will use the drives on their notebooks and Sun Microsystems said it will use them in its servers. With the new products, HP displaced an existing vendor to use only Intel SSDs as options for all its business notebooks.
"Their performance level is head and shoulders above anyone else," hitting levels of throughput near the maximum possible under Windows, said Walter Fry, a notebook architect at HP.
Fry said the Intel SSDs provide as much as three times the performance of some competitors. HP will not adopt other vendor's drives until they get within ten percent of the Intel performance, he added.
"Most SSD vendors have products based on flash-card designs, but Intel took a fresh look at how the NAND chips communicate with a system and developed a new controller," said Jim Handy with Objective Analysis (Los Gatos, Calif.).
Handy said he has not yet seen independent benchmarks for the Intel drives. Whatever the performance, SSDs are still expensive at $8 or more per Gbyte compared to prices approaching 25 cents per Gbyte for hard disk drives.
"We don't expect the two to come to parity anytime in the future," said Fry.
Intel said it gets its performance boost from a controller that uses ten parallel channels. The channels support the native command queuing technique of the serial ATA interface enabling up to 32 concurrent operations. Chips in the drives use the Open NAND Flash Interface version 1.0 co-developed by Intel and Micron.
Intel will ship 80 Gbyte drives for desktops and notebooks within 30 days and 160 Gbyte versions early next year using its multi-level cell NAND flash chips. They will support reads at 250 Mbytes/s, writes at up to 70 Mbytes/s and 85 microsecond read latency
Severs versions based on single-level cell chips, initially at 32 Gbytes shipping by the end of the year. A 64 Gbyte version will ship early next year. The server drives will support reads at 250 Mbytes/s, writes at up to 170 Mbytes/s and 75 microsecond read latency.
The server drives can deliver 35,000 I/O operations/s on a 4 KByte read and 3,300 IOPS on a 4 KByte write. The drives come in 1.8- and 2.5-inch sizes, similar to hard disks.
Intel said the desktop and notebook drives can last up to five years with writes of up to 100 Gbytes/day, far beyond typical user practice. It did not specify lifetime for the server drives.
SSDs have much shorter than the product life times than hard disk drives due to the uneven wearing of flash cells. Intel claims its wear leveling algorithm keeps cell usage to within a four percent variation across the device.
Intel's initial foray into flash modules for notebooks, its so-called Robson cards used for notebook system cache, failed to gain market traction. That's because the cards had relatively low performance, high prices and were tied to Microsoft Vista. Intel will support new versions of the cards across a wider variety of Windows version with chip sets coming in 2009.


You are visiting the placeholder page for Leonard Bradley. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Leonard Bradley. We created this page automatically in hopes Leonard Bradley would find it. If you are not Leonard Bradley, but are an alumni of Keenan High School, register on this site for free now.


We got to school together.
Diana takes photos of herself all the time.
Her Facebook profile is full of her pictures.
This is a picture of her in the bathroom.
That is a picture of her at school.
And thousands of similar photos.
But mostly she loves taking pictures in front of the mirror.
And every time she shows her new phone in the reflection.
O nome dela é Diana.
Diana tira fotos de si mesma o tempo todo.
Seu perfil no Facebook está cheio de suas fotos.
Esta é uma foto dela no banheiro.
Aquela é uma foto dela na escola.
E milhares de fotos semelhantes.
Mas principalmente ela adora tirar fotos na frente do espelho.
E toda vez que ela mostra seu novo telefone na reflexão.
Talvez ela ame seu telefone?


text:
Blu-Ray Review: THE STRANGER (1946)
Starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Philip Merivale, Richard Long, Konstantin Shayne. Directed by Orson Welles. (1946, 95 min).
It warrants mentioning where I'm at regarding Orson Welles...
While I freely acknowledge Citizen Kane as a technical and artistic cinema milestone, I must confess I've never really enjoyed it. The Stranger, a relative obscurity on his resume, is a lot more fun.
One of the few times he's essentially been a director-for-hire, Welles' casts himself as the heavy in this story of a U.N. appointed Nazi hunter, Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), in pursuit of fugitive war criminal Franz Kindler (Welles). Wilson follows a fellow Kindler crony, Meinike, to the small town of Harper, Connecticut. Kindler has assumed the identity of local professor named Charles Rankin. He's highly respected and about to marry Mary (Loretta Young), the daughter of the town judge. Meinike's arrival alarms Kindler enough to kill him and hide the corpse in the woods. Wilson suspects Meinike is dead and hopes to convince Mary who her husband really is. She's reluctant, of course, unwilling to believe the man she knows as Charles is a notorious mass murderer.
"Rosebud? Nah, that was just my nickname in college."
The Stranger is a lot more entertaining (and amusing) than it sounds. Though there's some disturbing real-life concentration camp footage (the first Hollywood film to feature any), the fleet-footed story unfolds like a straightforward suspense thriller with a few bits of subtle humor (mostly courtesy of a checker-loving shopkeeper). Robinson is fun as Wilson, while Welles hams it up considerably - even sporting a "dastardly" mustache - and clearly having a good time with his character's unrepentant nastiness.
"One move and I'll shoot your pee-pee off."
It's no secret that Welles' heart really wasn't in this one. But by appearing to go through the motions directing what's essentially a potboiler, he accidentally crafted one of the more exciting films of his career. It may not have garnered him the accolades he was used to, but ironically, The Stranger was a bigger box office hit than his more ambitious projects.
The Stranger is not Welles' greatest film. In my humble opinion, that honor goes to Touch of Evil, which perhaps owes some of its existence to this similarly-noirish little gem. Additionally, this new disc by Olive Films doesn't have as many bonus features as previous Blu-Ray releases, but sports much better picture and sound.
ESSAY: "The Strangers: Murderers Among Us," by film historian Dr. Jennifer Lynde Barker
AUDIO COMMENTARY - By classic film blogger Nora Fiore
Posted by D.M. Anderson at 10:52 PM No comments:
Soundtrack News: CHRISTINE Film Score LP Coming 9/29
Varèse Sarabande will release John Carpenter's classic score for CHRISTINE on LP available September 29, 2017. The CHRISTINE– Original Motion Picture Score has been fully remastered and is being released on blue vinyl. The album features fantastic new art from award-winning movie poster artist Gary Pullin ("Ghoulish Gary"). In the past few years, there has been a tremendous upsurge in interest for John Carpenter's signature score compositions following the success of the Carpenter's Lost Themes and Lost Themes II albums, and subsequent tours. The rare director-composer combo, Carpenter's scores for his classic horror films are a favorite of electronic music aficionados.
Chris Alexander of ComingSoon.net rated Christine as #3 of the top 10 John Carpenter scores, saying, "Pulsing, moody, dread-filled, this is a car-centric and pop-tinted progression of the Halloween score and it's probably this writer's favorite of all the Carpenter soundtracks."
Fact Magazine says Christine, with "its soundtrack is another synth-heavy masterclass, and again finds Carpenter teaming up with Alan Howarth. 'Obsessed With The Car' is one of the score's most low-key cues, and is noteworthy simply because of its beautiful, unhurried simplicity."
To complement the remastered audio, Award-winning artist and leading designer in the world of alternative movie posters, Gary Pullin was commissioned to create original artwork for the packaging. "I've always loved Stephen King's novel and the cover is a stunner - a stylized hood ornament with a screaming skull, Christine in chrome as it blazes across the hard cover," he explained. "For the films' score, I wanted to feature the Plymouth Fury logo front and centre, in a simplistic and new way. The shape of the V reminded me of devil horns - she's the car from hell! The blue glow represents the supernatural force living under the hood and inside her evil grinning grill. I often go for atmospheric designs when creating artwork for movie soundtracks and the art seemed like a perfect fit for the electronic score that Carpenter and Howarth created to drive the film's suspense and bring the fury of Christine to life."
Posted by D.M. Anderson at 8:23 AM No comments:
DVD Giveaway: THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
"Witness Oprah Winfrey give one of the best performances of her career"- Variety
An African-American woman becomes the unwitting pioneer for multiple medical developments, such as the Polio vaccine, when her cells are harvested to create the first immortal human cell line. Her story, previously lost in history, is brought to life in HBO® Films' The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Led by Oscar® nominee and TV icon Oprah Winfrey and Emmy® nominee Rose Byrne, the "Intriguing and thought provoking" (The New York Times) HBO® Film, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is available to own on Blu-RayTM and DVD September 5, 2017.
In this adaptation of Rebecca Skloot's critically acclaimed, bestselling nonfiction book of the same name, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is told through the eyes of Henrietta Lacks' daughter, Deborah Lacks (Winfrey). The film chronicles her search, along with journalist Rebecca Skloot (Byrne), to learn about the mother she never knew and understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks' cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. With a supporting cast that includes Renée Elise Goldsberry, Reg E. Cathey, Courtney B. Vance, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Leslie Uggams, Reed Birney, Rocky Carroll and John Douglas Thompson, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty, and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people.
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THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
Available on Blu-ray™ and DVD September 5, 2017
Posted by D.M. Anderson at 7:32 PM No comments:
DVD Review: THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1977)
Starring Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Barbara Carrera, Nigel Davenport. Directed by Don Taylor. (1977, 99 min).
You'll have to indulge me while I give The Island of Dr. Moreau a bit more praise than it might actually warrant.
When I was a kid, my parents used to drop me off at the Southgate Quad nearly every Saturday afternoon. I went alone most of the time, which was actually preferable. For me, going to the movies wasn't really a social activity. Never too picky over what was playing, I simply loved the experience. Those afternoons in the dark, just me, my popcorn and the wonders on the screen, are some of my favorite childhood memories.
One of those memories is of 1977's The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Back then, legendary purveyors of drive-in fodder, American-International Pictures, took a few fleeting stabs at escaping its B movie origins in favor of mainstream respectability. They opened their wallets a bit wider than usual for such films as The Amityville Horror, Meteor and Force 10 from Navarone. With The Island of Dr. Moreau, AIP continued cashing-in on H.G. Wells' name, albeit on a much bigger budget than the studio's other campy crapfests, Food of the Gods and Empire of the Ants, released around the same time.
Charlie Rich as Wolverine.
But I didn't know any of this in 1977. All I really knew was it had that British dude from Logan's Run (Michael York), the old guy from Airport (Burt Lancaster) and the beautiful Barbara Carrera as Maria, who I'd never seen before but...mee-ow! Though the film is rated PG, my 13-year-old self found her brief seduction scene rather...uh, stirring.
Elsewhere, Dr. Moreau (Lancaster) is a brilliant-yet-bonkers scientist who has retreated to a remote island to continue his controversial work, which consists of using a serum to slowly convert animals into thinking and speaking human beings. Also populating the island are the results of his experiments in various stages of human development. Moreau treats them cruelly, much to the chagrin of Braddock (York), who's marooned on the island and forced to endure the doctor's increasingly maniacal behavior (made more tolerable, to be sure, by Maria's company at night). Moreau ultimately tries to turn Braddock into an animal and document his decent into savagery.
I hadn't watched The Island of Dr. Moreau since that summer afternoon at the Southgate. Back then, I found it entertaining, though nothing remarkable from any kid-friendly horror fare I enjoyed on other weekends. Still, I fired-up this disc with nostalgic giddiness...alone in the dark just like 40 years ago, this time from the comfort of my Dave Cave rather than the Southgate's sticky floors and cheesy orange curtains.
"Dammit, man! I need a restroom now!"
Four decades later, the film holds up pretty well. Though trying to run with the Hollywood big boys ultimately exasperated AIP's downfall, it's hard to argue with the results here, which reflect a considerable amount of creative ambition. The Island of Dr. Moreau is arguably the most handsomely-produced movie of the studio's "mainstream" era, directed with workmanlike proficiency by Don Taylor (who'd go on to make Omen II better than it had a right to be). And even though films like The Howling would come along a few years later to make Dr. Moreau's make-up designs seem quaint, they serve their purpose effectively enough.
The overall performances are quite good as well. York is solid, though for me he'll always be that Logan's Run dude, while Carrera was a reminder of my good taste in boyhood crushes. Perhaps because of his more beloved legendary roles, we tend to forget Burt Lancaster was quite adept at playing characters who are just a little south of sanity (Seven Days in May and the woefully underappreciated Twilight's Last Gleaming immediately come to mind). He's at his unhinged best as the film's titular character.
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a wonderful blast from my past. A definite childhood artifact, the film isn't what anyone would ever call a classic, so its appeal will probably be limited to similarly nostalgic fans. Still, age notwithstanding, it's remains the best of the official adaptations of Wells' novel, and immeasurably more enjoyable than the dumpster fire remake with Marlon Brando. My one beef is that Olive Films is releasing it only on DVD.
ESSAY: "The Island of Dr. Moreau as Theological Grotesque" by Gorman Beauchamp (both a booklet insert and one of the bonus features. It's discusses H.G. Wells' original novella, not the film).
AUDIO COMMENTARY - by Jeff Belanger and Dr. Dreck (I'm not exactly sure who these guys are)
KITTY CONSENSUS
Blu-Ray News: L.A. CONFIDENTIAL 20th Anniversary Edition Arrives 9/26
EVERYTHING IS SUSPECT…
EVERYONE IS FOR SALE…
AND NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS
Arrives on Blu-ray & DVD September 26
Director Curtis Hanson and a terrific cast serve up a "thrilling tale of police corruption and Hollywood glamour" (Marshall Fine, Gannett Newspapers) in this film based on James Ellroy's novel. Three cops (Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce), a call girl (Kim Basinger), a mysterious millionaire (David Strathairn), a tabloid journalist (Danny DeVito) and the chief of detectives (James Cromwell) fuel a plot rife with mystery, ambition, romance and humor. The film captured ACADEMY AWARDS® in 1997 for Best Supporting Actress (Basinger) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson).
Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Features Include:
Commentary by Critic/Historian Andrew Sarris, James Ellroy, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Ruth Myers, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, Brian Helgeland, Jeannine Oppewall, Dante Spinotti and Danny DeVito
Whatever You Desire: Making L.A. Confidential
Sunlight and Shadow: The Visual Style of L.A. Confidential
A True Ensemble: The Cast of L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential: From Book to Screen
L.A. Confidential TV Series Pilot
Off the Record: Vintage Cast/Creator Interviews
Director Curtis Hanson's Photo Pitch
The L.A. of L.A. Confidential Interactive Map Tour
Music-Only Track (5.1) Showcasing Jerry Goldsmith's Score
Trailers and T.V. Spots
Rest in Peace, Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper (1943-2017)
Posted by D.M. Anderson at 10:56 AM No comments:
Blu-Ray Review: BAYWATCH
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, Priyanka Chopra, Jon Bass, Ilfenesh Hadera, Yahya-Adul-Mateen II, Hannibal Buress, Jack Kesy, David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson. Directed by Seth Gordon. (2017 116/121 min).
You're looking at the one American male over 40 who never sat through a single episode of the original Baywatch. It always looked like an idiotic T&A version of Scooby-Doo. Maybe that's why the film's best running gag works so well.
That gag: The entire Baywatch gang (led by Dwayne Johnson) are under the delusion that their occupation is a noble calling for the capable few, one that extends beyond the beach to include detective work and protecting the community from nefarious bad guys. Everyone else sees them for what they are: simple lifeguards.
Had that joke been the primary focus of the actual story, Baywatch could have been another Brady Bunch Movie, a self-aware, morbidly amusing film about characters stuck in their own little bubble, oblivious to reality. Instead, an actual plot is thrown in, which has the audacity to take itself relatively seriously.
"Hey...those three guys are gonna need a bigger boat."
While Baywatch isn't as bad as the critical consensus suggests, the biggest problem is the film doesn't pick one tone and stick with it. At times it approaches the type of satire you'd see in Airplane! before shifting to lowbrow dick jokes. The humor ranges from cleverly self-aware to stupid slapstick. Some of it is funny, just as often not. When it abruptly turns into an action film, everything is pretty-much played straight-up. For example, another running gag has C.J. always jogging in slow-motion (an amusing nod to the original series' jiggle appeal). However, whenever Johnson is called into action, slo-mo is employed to emphasize the awesomeness of the stunt.
Both Johnson and Zac Efron have previously demonstrated comic chops, which are certainly on display here. They're obviously in on the joke whenever the film is in comedy mode, and by now, Efron has the hunky idiot market cornered. However, amid the six-pack abs and bouncing boobs is Ronnie, the obligatory rube who exists to be laughed at for his comparatively poor physique and social awkwardness. Stuck with a majority of the most embarrassing gags, I sometimes found myself feeling almost sorry for the actor who plays him (Jon Bass).
Still, despite its wild inconsistencies, Baywatch isn't a terrible movie. Sure, opportunities for clever satire are often squandered and I'm thankful I passed on it in theaters, but I expected a lot worse. When it places humor over heroics, it's even laugh-out-loud funny on occasion.
UNRATED VERSION (pushing the running time past the two-hour mark without really improving things)
FEATURETTES: "Meet the Lifeguards"; "Continuing the Legacy"; "Stunts & Training"
DELETED/EXTENDED SCENES
DVD & DIGITAL COPIES
NOT BAD...LIKE CAT CHOW
Rest in Peace, Jay Thomas
Jay Thomas (1948-2017)
DVD Review: NEVER LET GO
Starring Angela Dixon, Nigel Whitmey, Heather Peace, Rami Nasr, Velibor Topic, Sarah Perles, Lisa Eichhorn. Directed by Howard J. Ford. (2015, 94 min).
As the purveyor of this site, I'm often tasked with reviewing a lot of stuff I've never heard of, including a plethora of low budget, direct-to-video action films. In most cases, it turns out there's a good reason I haven't heard of them. But every now and then, one comes along where I find myself going, "Hey, this is actually pretty damn good." Never Let Go is one of those.
Angela Dixon is Lisa, the troubled mistress of a prominent - and married - politician, Clark Anderson (Nigel Whitmey). She's also the mother of his child. To escape for awhile, Lisa visits the Middle East (!), where her baby is promptly kidnapped. This is where the viewer learns Lisa is much more than Anderson's mistress. As a former part of his security staff, she's also a one-woman wrecking crew, unwilling to sit idly by while the bad guys make-off with her daughter. During her pursuit, she kills one of the kidnappers and is now wanted by police.
When she's not kicking asses, Angela Dixon moonlights as a dish installer.
Other than raising the obvious question of why the hell a single woman would choose to vacation in the Middle East with a newborn baby, Never Let Go is surprisingly smart and engaging. There's action 'o plenty, with numerous close-quarter fight scenes that are well-executed on a low budget. And though it owes more than a passing nod to Taken, the film tells a suspenseful story in its own right. The performances are also above average for a movie like this. As Lisa, Dixon creates a believable female action hero, capable of kicking massive amounts of ass without once throwing on high-heels.
Never Let Go makes up for its lack of originality with violent intensity, an interesting main character and a story that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. It won't win any Oscars, but the film does its job quite well, making it a pleasant surprise for action fans.
Blu-Ray News: Behind-the-Scenes Clip from THE MUMMY, Now on Digital and Arriving on 9/12
See how the first fight sequence between Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella was made in this awesome behind-the-scenes look in celebration of THE MUMMY now available on Digital.
When an ancient evil rises up to seek revenge on our world, relive the epic saga in The Mummy, unleashing onto Digital on August 22, 2017, and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on September 12, 2017 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Packed with over an hour of special bonus content, experience never-before-scene footage and hidden secrets The Mummy has within with stars Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe, and Jake Johnson.
SEE THE NEW CLIP:
Blu-Ray Review: BLACK SAILS: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON
Starring Toby Stephens, Hannah New, Luke Arnold, Luke Roberts, Ray Stevenson, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Tom Hopper, Zethu Dlomo, Toby Schmitz, Clara Paget. Various directors. (2017, 596 min).
And so ends the only good thing Michael Bay ever attached his name to. It's kind-of sad, really. I'm sure gonna miss what my family amusingly refers to as Dad's Pirate Porn.
I never watched Black Sails when it aired on Starz, preferring the annual summer binge sessions these Blu-Ray releases provided. The show got a bit pokey at times in previous seasons, but it was the most handsomely produced series on television, with just the right amounts of sex, violence, betrayal and intrigue to keep me awake into the wee hours of the night, saying, "Okay, just one more episode, then I'll go to bed."
At least the series ends with a bang. Season 4 is the most briskly-paced and action oriented of them all, the various events of the previous three seasons coming to a head during these final 10 episodes. And, as usual, anyone not up-to-speed with these characters' past-doings will be completely lost. For the faithful, there aren't any real plot twists this season, save for the ultimate fates of a few of these characters.
"Use yer goddamn turn signal!!!"
While Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) remains the show's solid anchor, all the supporting characters have their moments. I especially enjoyed the transformation of Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz) over the course of the series from conniving little weasel to - almost - a trusted ally during the growing conflict with the British over control of Nassau. Woodes Rogers (Luke Roberts) returns from Season 3 as the primary antagonist. He makes a terrific villain because, even though he often demonstrates a considerable amount of cruelty, he's not completely hateful. And while we may not condone his actions, we kind-of understand them.
It all winds down to a satisfying - sometimes surprisingly poignant - conclusion that should please most fans of the series. And while I'll miss those late summer binge-a-thons, at least Black Sails ends on a high note rather than wear out its welcome.
FEATURETTES: "Inside the World of Black Sails"; "Creating the World"; "Roundtable: Women in Piracy"; "Roundtable: "The Legends of Treasure Island"; "Roundtable: Fearless Fans"
Blu-Ray Review: EFFECTS
Starring Joe Pilato, John Harrison, Tom Savini, Susan Chapek, Bernard McKenna, Debra Gordon. Directed by Dusty Nelson. (1980, 84 min).
On the outer fringes of the Romeroverse lurks Effects, a grassroots Pittsburgh production that was never given a proper release. There's nary a single zombie to be found and the film itself is unremarkable. But it's particularly noteworthy today for featuring early appearances by a few guys who'd soon become horror icons under George A. Romero's wing, most notably Tom Savini and Joe Pilato.
Effects features another of Romero's alumni, John Harrison (Creepshow composer & Tales from the Darkside director), as Lacey, an unhinged filmmaker who's supposedly directing a horror movie, when in-reality he's making a snuff film using his cast and crew as victims. It's a terrifically twisted concept and the film is pretty well made considering its shoestring budget, but undone by an overly-talky script, scattershot pacing and rambling scenes where not much happens outside of partying.
But the curiosity factor alone makes Effects worth checking out. Think about it...few cult actors are as legendary for a single performance as Joe Pilato. Three decades after Day of the Dead, he's still synonymous with Captain Rhodes because most of us haven't really seen him in anything else. He's sort-of a revelation in Effects - and a leading man, of all things! - playing a congenial cameraman who's almost the polar opposite of his most iconic role: soft-spoken, handsome, charming and...well, likable.
Mr. Pilato gets lost in his own monkey farm.
Tom Savini may be a horror legend, but those hoping to see his horrific make-up skills will phenomenally disappointed. Though he does provide the film's few effects (which are tame compared to his later work), he's mostly utilized as an actor here, playing an obnoxious crony who's in cahoots with Lacey. Savini's always been a decent actor, and although he has relatively little screen time, he turns in an amusing performance.
Effects will hold little interest for casual viewers, who'll likely be put-off by its bargain-basement production and dull execution. From a historical perspective, however, this disc is a must-own for those obsessed with anything even tenuously connected to George A. Romero. It also includes an hour-long documentary that's arguably more entertaining than the movie itself.
"AFTER EFFECTS" - An hour-long retrospective documentary from 2004 that's part cast & crew reunion, part behind-the-scenes. Easily the best feature on the entire disc, including the film (includes optional audio commentary).
2 SHORT FILMS - Weird early shorts made by some of the same folks.
AUDIO COMMENTARY - With director Dusty Nelson, actor/composer John Harrison & editor Pasquale Buba.
NOT BAD...FROM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Rest in Peace, Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)
CD Review: WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Music by Michael Giacchino. (2017, 76 min).
Michael Giacchino's score for the War for the Planet of the Apes is the best of the entire series.
The disc hooks the listener with the very first track, "Apes' Past is Prologue," an epic 11-minute piece which is at-times reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith's groundbreaking music in the original 1968 film. Whether or not that was directly intentional, it's an eerie mood-setter with ominous moments where a choir is utilized to great effect.
"Assault of the Earth" continues the dark path more urgently. The third track, "Exodus Wounds," is emotionally sweeping and a strong candidate for the best one on the entire album, establishing two of the score's strongest recurring themes. Elsewhere, these 17 tracks vary from quick two-minute bursts, such as the stunning "Ecstasy of the Bold," to longer pieces like "Apes Together Strong," which is both haunting and suspenseful.
More importantly, the score works as a stand-alone piece of music, always the hallmark of any great soundtrack album. One of the best of Giacchino's recent efforts, this disc is definitely worth picking up.
MEE-OW! LIKE BEING TURNED LOOSE IN A BIRD SANCTUARY
Blu-Ray News: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND 40th Anniversary Available 9/19
STEVEN SPIELBERG'S LANDMARK CLASSIC
CELEBRATES ITS 40 ANNIVERSARY
All-New 4K Restoration Available Sept. 19 on 2-Disc Remastered Blu-ray, 3-Disc 4K Ultra HD & Limited Edition 3-Disc 4K Ultra HD "Light and Sound" Gift Set.
Both Blu-ray & 4K Ultra HD Releases Include All Three Versions of the Film, Plus All-New Bonus Material Featuring Interviews with Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams & Denis Villeneuve.
Following its exclusive one week engagement in theaters across the country starting September 1, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates the 40th anniversary of legendary director Steven Spielberg's epic adventure CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND on September 19 with the new 4K restoration available on 3-disc 4K Ultra HD, a Limited Edition 3-disc 4K Ultra HD "Light and Sound" Gift Set, and in high-def on 2-disc remastered Blu-ray. A must-own for all true fans, the highly collectible Limited Edition Gift Set features illuminated packaging that plays the iconic 5-tone motif. Also included is an expanded booklet with rare archival photos. Both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases include all three restored versions of the film, including the 1977 theatrical version, the 1980 Special Edition and the 1997 Director's Cut.
In addition to the legacy bonus materials, the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND Blu-ray comes with new bonus content, including rare, never-before-seen home movies and gags from the set, and the all-new featurette "Three Kinds of Close Encounters." This featurette includes a new interview with director Steven Spielberg on the legacy of the film, as well as new interviews with directors J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) on the impact of Close Encounters.
Blu-Ray Review: KILL SWITCH
Starring Dan Stevens, Berennice Maylohe, Tygo Gernandt, Charity Wakefield, Baz Keijzer, Mike Libanon, Mike Reus. Directed by TimSmiT. (2017, 92 min).
Kill Switch is conceptually intriguing, but questionably executed.
In the near future, the Alterplex corporation has developed and built a massive device that will provide unlimited energy to the world. It does this by sucking energy from The Echo, a mirror universe created by the machine. When this begins to trigger bizarre interdimensional disasters, NASA pilot Will Porter (Dan Stevens) is recruited to travel into The Echo and close the link between both worlds using a black box called the Redivider. This will also destroy The Echo, but failure to do so will result in the end of both worlds. However, even though The Echo is supposed to be devoid of biological life, people identical to those in the real world exist there and understandably don't relish the thought of extinction.
"What? You're not the Ghostbusters??
It will come as no surprise that director/producer TimSmiT's background is in CG special effects, which he created for this film as well. Considering the film's limited budget, Kill Switch is visually impressive, with boats and railroad cars falling from the sky and deadly police drones patrolling the city. However, while the ramifications of multidimensional interaction is a concept just begging to be explored, everything takes a backseat to barrages of gunfire and explosions.
Fans of Stevens will also be disappointed to learn he only appears onscreen in flashback sequences, which are periodically dispersed throughout the film to provide exposition (including a pointless subplot involving his sister and her troubled son). The rest of plays like a first-person shooter video game, shown entirely from Porter's point of view. While initially interesting, the gimmick is nothing new and grows tiresome after awhile.
As it is, Kill Switch certainly watchable. It seldom slows down for a minute and boasts enough mayhem to please undemanding action fans. But by choosing spectacle over substance, it's also a missed opportunity. With a concept like that, our brains should be as engaged as our eyes.
FEATURETTE: "The Visual Effect: Inside the Director's
Process"
NOT BAD...BUT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Blu-Ray Review: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (2005)
Starring Adam Baldwin, Rutger Hauer, Steve Guttenberg, Bryan Brown, Alexa Hamilton, Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots, C. Thomas Howell, Amber Sainsbury, Sylvia Sims, Peter Weller, Nathalie Boltt, Peter Dobson, Alex Kingston. Directed by John Putch. (2005, 175 min).
We all know the story...on New Year's Eve during her final voyage, the SS Poseidon is struck by a massive tidal wave which capsizes the ship. The survivors must now make their way to the hull and hope for a rescue before it sinks for good.
Well, purists be prepared, because this 2005 made-for-TV remake of The Poseidon Adventure commits heresy by removing the tidal wave from a story that was mostly about a tidal wave. The original is unarguably a disaster movie classic, though not such a sacred cinematic cow that a remake is out of the question (a lot of folks in Hollywood must have agreed because we got two within a year). But, seriously...no tidal wave? Whose idea was that...George Lucas'?
Like attempting to enjoy a meatless burger, disaster buffs just need to suck it up and accept the idea that an oceanliner can be capsized by an exploding beer keg.
Uh...what?
Someone enjoyed one too many deviled eggs from the buffet table.
Actually, the keg is one of several bombs that are brought on-board by an unnamed group of terrorists. It's never made clear exactly what their beef is, but much of the first hour - besides introducing a variety of ill-fated passengers - focuses on this plot, with grumpy Sea Marshal Mike Rogo (Adam Baldwin) searching the ship for terrorists. This is The Poseidon Adventure in-name-only until the ship finally capsizes. Perhaps the producers chose the terrorist route because, considering the already-terrible CGI, recreating a convincing tidal wave was an insurmountable task. Or maybe there wasn't enough meat to the original story to justify the four hour running time a miniseries generally requires.
But believe it or not, the movie improves as it goes along and the stuntwork itself is rather impressive. Better yet, it starts to resemble the Poseidon Adventure of old during the second half. Several escape sequences are more-or-less recreated pretty faithfully, albeit on a TV budget.
Some of the characters - both familiar and new - are actually pretty interesting. Baldwin, in a rare leading role, is suitably badass, while Rutger Hauer is surprisingly effective as a tough-but-kindly priest. To be honest, I always hated Shelley Winter's whiny, obnoxious performance in the original, but Sylvia Syms does wonders with the same character, rendering her subtly endearing and sympathetic.
Steve Guttenberg as The Douchebag.
In fact, most of the cast and their characters are decent as TV movies go. One glaring exception is Steve Guttenberg as Richard. Having a face that's inherently punchable is bad enough, but he's also stuck with one of the most repugnant characters I've ever seen in a disaster movie (taking into account every movie in the Airport franchise, that's saying something). This is a guy who abandons his entire family to shack up with the ship's masseuse for the rest of the trip, then we're expected to hope he survives the disaster. Worse yet, even though time is rapidly running out, everyone is repeatedly forced to halt their escape plans while Richard makes impassioned declarations of love to his wife and kids (and Guttenberg can't emote worth a damn). But even after that, while his wife looks on, he still mourns the death of the chick he's been boinking.
That brutal story & casting decision aside, the movie itself isn't all that bad once you get over the fact no tidal wave is forthcoming. Sure, like a lot of "event" miniseries that were popular at the time, The Poseidon Adventure is too long by an hour (further padded by needless scenes of rescue efforts) and the special effects are terrible, but this often-dubious genre has produced bigger stinkers, including its mega-budget brethren, Poseidon, which is far more spectacular, but works better as a sleep aid.
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Story Uuid: 83e0bc0e-3df1-4b3c-844d-2e7d0516b020
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Story Slug: economic-impact-of-valero-alamo-bowl-cant-be-understated
Economic impact of Valero Alamo Bowl can't be understated
By SBG San Antonio 1545996330000
It's game day as the Iowa State Cyclones take on the Washington State Cougars in the Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome. (SBG San Antonio)
SAN ANTONIO - It's game day as the Iowa State Cyclones take on the Washington State Cougars in the Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome.
This bowl game has a huge economic impact on local businesses downtown.
In just a few hours, the Alamo Bowl is going to be jam packed with college football fans waiting for the Cyclones to take on the Cougars on the gridiron. All this excitement does bring in an added boost the to the city's economy.
Here's how the numbers break down: In 2015, the Valero Alamo Bowl generated almost $46 million in total economic impact based on visitor spending. According to a survey conducted by Strategic Marketing Services and Sports Economics, football fans spent $26.5 million in San Antonio that year.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 fans are expected to attend the bowl game, many of them will be staying in local hotels, going to restaurants, and using local transportation.
Local business owners said they are excited about the money they've already been making from all the football fans in town.
"It's a steady progression up it's been great with a bowl teams that I've been selected to come in and most of the teams of been well traveled by their fan base," said Barry Clark, owner, La Villita Cafe.
Since its inception in 1993, the 22 Valero Alamo Bowls have combined to generated estimated total impact of more than $710 million for San Antonio.
No. 13 Washington State (10-2) plays No. 24 Iowa State (8-4) at 8 p.m. Friday in The Alamo Bowl.


text:
The War Over The Word "War"
by Philip Klein
Hunter Biden Cashed In to Fuel His Drug and Sex Habits
by George Neumayr
Targeting People With Mental Illness and Dementia for Euthanasia
by Wesley J. Smith
A Red Wave Through the Bayou
by Scott McKay
Is Mass Immigration Killing Two-Party Democracy in the U.S.?
by James Delmont
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by Dov Fischer
Matthew Yglesias writes:
Late last week, Josh Marshall was noting some rhetorical switcheroos taking place on the right. Mitt Romney, for example, correctly notes that "There's not a global war on terror" before adding "There's a global war being waged by the terrorists and if I am president, there will be a global war waged on the terrorists and we will win." Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, has taken to referring to "the terrorists war on us."
This is totally backwards. War is a kind of organized, socially sanctioned violence. The people who destroyed the World Trade Center weren't soldiers fighting a war against the United States, they were mass murderers. In response, yes, we went to war against their patrons in Afghanistan which the Bush administration proceeded to transmogrify into a horribly misguided "war on terror" but either way we were the side with the soldiers fighting a war. Guys blowing up train stations aren't warriors. Shadowy networks that don't control territory don't prosecute wars.
Yglesias may not think that the terrorists are at war with us, but Osama bin Laden sure does:
–In April 1995, bin Laden said, "I discovered that it was not enough to fight in Afghanistan, but that we had to fight on all fronts against communist or Western oppression. The urgent thing was communism, but the next target was America… This is an open war up to the end, until victory."
–On August 23, 1996, bin Laden issued a "Declaration of War Against the Americans Who Occupy the Land of the Two Holy Mosques." He wrote that "Due to the imbalance of power between our armed forces and the enemy forces, a suitable means of fighting must be adopted, i.e. using fast-moving, light forces that work under complete secrecy. In other words, to initiate a guerrilla war, where the sons of the nation, and not the military forces, take part in it."
–A December 23, 1998 interview with Time, bin Laden said, "The International Islamic Front for Jihad against the U.S. and Israel has, by the grace of God, issued a crystal-clear fatwah calling on the Islamic nation to carry on jihad [holy war] aimed at liberating holy sites."
This is not just a matter of semantics. By downgrading the struggle against terrorism to a crime-fighting effort against "mass murders," writers such as Yglesias hope to create excuses for inaction. Terrorists may use different tactics, they may not wear uniforms, and they may not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but that doesn't mean that they aren't at war with us.
It all reminds me of July 1, 1987 when President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork for an opening on the Supreme Court. He had it made in the shade, said my complacent conservative friends. The result was brutal. But we do not have to look back 32 years to see how unruly the leftwing mob can be. Recall the recent fate of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Only his courage and unscotchable determinate saved him. The simple fact is that the conservatives are often slow on the draw against the American left. Only the Wall Street Journal and the intrepid New York Sun have come out swinging for Moore. It is time for the conservatives to rally around him. He can probably win with the President on his side. He apparently has the votes. Yet the coming battle would be a lot less bloody if the conservative movement were to take the field on Moore's behalf — and make it clear that from now on they are going to wage war for the President's nominees. Print
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text:
Jealous – Ruy Silva
The color orange and Ruy Silva.
The orange appeared because Ruy "signed" his works with a random orange stain, but through the study of chromo-therapy and the very symbolism of color, the painter realized that the orange resembled his personality: joy, strength to live, Optimism and determination – something that is present throughout his personal and professional life.
Thus the orange acquired a new meaning for the painter, and from that point on, Ruy began to include this object more or less clearly in the composition of his artistic creations.
21st – 29th April
Curated by Mara Alves
Featuring performance artist – Rossana Losa
Ruy Silva was born on February the 10th 1974 in Viseu – Portugal, where he graduated in Visual and Technological Education at the Higher Education School – IPV, where he later taught the subjects of Integrated Expressions and Creative Expressions. He made his first exhibition with only fifteen years in Viseu.
He completed his PhD in "PAINTING – an image-design reference point" at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Salamanca.
He currently lives in Porto where he has his studio.
The work of Ruy Silva has an unusual international notoriety. His works have a regular presence in Paris and in recent years have been exhibited in Rome, Tokyo, Brussels, Geneva, New York, Madrid – Spain and also in Singapore and Guangzhou – China
Recently, he has released a retrospective book of his career of 20 years.
The artist counts with numerous expositions held in the four corners of the world.
© 2019 Strategy International Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


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Another year of daily devotions focused on Jesus and His love and grace. A favorite of many looking for a meaningful, practical, truth-centered way to start their day.
We hear Jesus's words and want to respond, but so often we feel we re too busy, too anxious, or too heavily burdened to take hold of his invitation. Mornings with Jesus 2017, an annual, 365-day devotional, is your entree into his world. Jesus will comfort you, and you'll experience the delight and challenge of knowing him and living for him.
In Mornings with Jesus 2017, you can read and reflect on one devotion each day that will encourage you to embrace Jesus's love, to lay down your worries and walk with Him, and to focus on Him as Redeemer, Friend, and Faithful One. Lifting up their voices in heartfelt gratitude, ten women, including bestselling authors Tricia Goyer and Cynthia Ruchti, consider the character and teachings of Jesus and share how He enriches and empowers them daily and how He wants to do the same for you.


text:
Environmental Stories
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Photographer & Filmmaker
Qinghai's Troubled Soul – Pulitzer Center #7
Posted by Sean Gallagher	on Sep 8, 2010	in Editorial Photography	| 3 Comments
A teenager with his yak on the shores of Qinghai Lake. 2010
SEAN GALLAGHER, FOR THE PULITZER CENTER, QINGHAI PROVINCE, CHINA
Tenzin's green eyes bored into me as I looked at his sunburnt face. "Qinghai Lake is a very holy place for us. We regard it as the 'soul' of Qinghai."
He was sitting by the side of a road running parallel to the lake shore. The sound of cars rushing past filled the air as Tenzin's kneepads, torn and grazed, fluttered in the wind generated just a meter or two away. Tenzin was taking a momentary break from prostrating his way around the 360km circumference of the lake, in a stark and vivid act demonstrating the importance of this lake to Tibetans, who make up 80 percent of people in the region.
Located at 3200 meters above sea-level on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau in the northwest of China, Qinghai Lake is the country's largest inland body of saltwater at 4318 square kilometers in area. Over the past century, however, the lake has found itself in a worrying downward trend as 700 square kilometers of its area have been lost and its surface level has dropped by 13 meters.
The shores of Qinghai Lake have receded steadily over the past century. 2010
The reasons for these recent changes are surprisingly hard to pinpoint. Seasonal climactic variations have been cited by authorities, global warming by others. Overgrazing and desertification are also suspected culprits, yet the exact cause remains unclear. As studies continue, however, it is widely thought that a combination of the above factors are at work.
"I came here just after I graduated from high school, nearly 10 years ago and the water level was up there," said my Tibetan guide, Dawa, as he pointed some 15 meters up the gentle slope behind us. We had arrived at the lake's 'port' which acted as more of a tourist-trap than a functioning dock. Qinghai lake is a popular destination on the domestic tourist route, as thousands of visitors descend upon it every day, each paying handsomely to experience China's famous "Blue Sea Lake." Tourists ride pleasure boats, jet-skis and speedboats and are treated to views of what is genuinely a breathtakingly beautiful body of water.
Beyond the fences that encapsulate the lake and keep visitors at bay, herders and nomads roam the fringes with their flocks of yaks and sheep. Living just as their ancestors did in the region for hundreds of years before them, they live in a fluctuating existence according to the seasons, residing in the hills and mountains that surround the lake in the winter and then descending to the lake-shore in the summer.
A young man prostrates around Qinghai Lake which is sacred to Tibetans of the region. 2010
"For many years the lake has decreased [in size]", said Norbu, a herder in his 60s who has lived in the region for over 40 years. "Some years it retreated as much as 1 meter per year," he commented to us as he gently guided his flock of 400 sheep around the lake.
As we sat on the east shore of the lake with Norbu, towering sand dunes loomed above us at the location which had been dubbed 'sand island.' This giant tongue of sand dominates the east side of the lake, stretching into the water and cleaving the grassland either side of it.
A result of westerly winds and Aeolian erosion, the desert's grip has increased in recent years as it has taken advantage of the lake's decrease in size. From 1958 to 2001, the sand area grew from 587.4 square kilometers to 805.8 square kilometers, prompting local authorities into action.
In 2008, the Qinghai provincial government announced an ambitious program to "restore the beauty of the lake" with an investment of 1.57 billion yuan (US$224 million) over the subsequent 10 years. The project aims to "revert 854,700 hectares of pasture to grassland, protect 276,600 hectares of wetland, harness 182,600 hectares of degraded grassland and build 34,400 hectares of forest in the area."
Bird Island on the western shores of Qinghai Lake. The lake is an important migratory stop-off point for birds in Asia. 2010
The program also aims to relocate many of the nomadic herders who have historically lived in the area. They have not been directly blamed for degradation but authorities have indicated their concern at the threat from the one million plus sheep that graze in the region.
"Life has got harder, for sure. Five years ago, the government started to allot grasslands to nomads. Since then, we only have this land", said Erelo, a 28-year old herder who was currently living in a traditional tent on the edges of the lake with his wife. "Also, we've heard that in two years, the government will remove all the nomads around the lake because they want to protect it."
A slight drizzle broke out above the lake on the last day I was there. Dark clouds had rolled quickly in over the surrounding hills. These recent rains had led to state news outlets optimistically declaring "China's largest saltwater lake grows after 50 years of shrinking." The slight increase in surface area of the lake in the past two years was confirmed by the herders we spoke to, but skepticism prevailed about the long-term trend. "I'm not very sure about it stopping," said Shuqiang Duan of Qinghai Province's Hydrology and Water Resources Survey Bureau, when I sought his opinion if we were seeing the end of the gradual decline.
As the drizzle continued and my car turned away from the lake for the final time, my thoughts turned back to Tenzin, who was working his way around the lake that was so important to him and his faith.
"I have been around twice, so far. By circling it seven times, we can clear our sins and wrongdoings", he told me. I couldn't help but wish that it was that easy to solve all of the worrying trends and problems on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.
Tweets that mention Qinghai's Troubled Soul: Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting | VISUAL THOUGHTS 视觉观点 -- Topsy.com
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jere Judd and Lane Oatey, Sean Gallagher. Sean Gallagher said: If you missed it before, just posted "Qinghai's Troubled Soul' w/images on my blog https://bit.ly/bQMGRx …trouble on the Tibetan plateau. […]
你好,我很喜欢你的照片,很佩服你的勇气,也很羡慕你周游了中国这么多的地方,你和你的镜头都带给了我很大的震撼。我刚刚结束了一个"湿地使者"行动,在七里海,那是一个美丽的地方,但是湿地面积在缩小,湿地也在退化,我看到之后感到很难过。我也很喜欢摄影,我的老师是延婧老师,相信你也认识她吧。
Losang in Tibet
Thank you for the interesting article on Tso Ngonbo. Let's hope the money the government has allocated for the lake's protection and beautification will be put to good use.
Photographer - Beijing - China


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Enroll in New Employee Orientation!
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