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Book Chase
Pulitzer Prize - Fiction
Larry McMurtry
Ruth Rendell
No, E-books Can't Burn, But...
Tim Parks said some things in his recent New York Review of Books article, "E-books Can't Burn," that I find almost nonsensical. I understand what he is trying to say, and I can see the logic he used to arrive at his conclusions, but his points are so near the opposite of my gut feelings about physical books and e-books that I find them ludicrous.
This is a section of that article (highlights are mine) that particularly makes me shake my head in disbelief:
The e-book, by eliminating all variations in the appearance and weight of the material object we hold in our hand and by discouraging anything but our focus on where we are in the sequence of words (the page once read disappears, the page to come has yet to appear) would seem to bring us closer than the paper book to the essence of the literary experience. Certainly it offers a more austere, direct engagement with the words appearing before us and disappearing behind us than the traditional paper book offers, giving no fetishistic gratification as we cover our walls with famous names. It is as if one had been freed from everything extraneous and distracting surrounding the text to focus on the pleasure of the words themselves. In this sense the passage from paper to e-book is not unlike the moment when we passed from illustrated children's books to the adult version of the page that is only text. This is a medium for grown-ups.
Let's start with the last sentence. This is a medium for grown-ups? Hardly. It is a medium with particular appeal to the gadget-minded children of today who are living in a world in which they have never known a day of not plugging in to some electronic game, music gadget, video player, or smart phone. To them, e-book readers are the way of the world, another way to impress their friends (if friends are still impressed by someone reading a book, that is) that they are living "on the edge" of modern technology. Most adults are perfectly fine with a physical book, thank you, and find, once the new wears off, that e-book readers are largely to be dragged from a drawer and loaded prior to the beginning of another business trip or vacation.
As for e-books "discouraging anything but our focus on where we are," I submit that longtime readers find it more difficult to focus on the written words electronically than by reading those same words in a physical book. Distractions seem to more easily tear one's eyes from electronic ink than from the written page. It has been my experience, and that of several I have asked about it, that one's retention rate when reading an e-book falls somewhere between what one retains in listening to an audio book and reading a physical copy. Perhaps that is different for less experienced readers.
Experienced readers understand the value that different fonts and white spacing have in setting a mood and a pace for the reader. They understand that reading a classic novel in an early printing and binding can be a very important part of the reading experience. They understand that reading an e-book is a relatively sterile experience and that reading one e-book is much like reading any other e-book.
No, "e-books can't burn," but they can disappear into the electronic void at any moment or become inaccessible when an e-book reader crashes and burns. Publishers and sellers (as Amazon has done) can yank them back to make changes and edits any time they want to do so. Or, most troubling considering their ever-rising prices, e-book formats can (and will) change, pretty much making entire e-libraries obsolete when they do.
Do read Mr. Parks's article. I expect that many of you will agree with him and that others will find much of what he says to be as ludicrous as I find it to be. Let me know what you think.
Posted by Sam at 7:11 PM 10 comments
Labels: E-Books, Opinion
The Beginner's Goodbye (First Look)
I know it will sound strange, but I finally felt good enough to go to the doctor today. Actually, I first went to the office and put in five hours of catch-up effort, physically crashed, and then managed to make my way to one of those pharmacy clinics where I was prescribed some 60 antibiotic pills to take over the next ten days. I feel so awful right now that I probably won't be heading back to work until Thursday morning, at the earliest. But, hey, I made a huge dent in what was stacked up and got everything done that was due by the end of February.
But here's some really good news. I am a huge Anne Tyler fan, having read every novel she has written over her long career, and in today's mail I received an Advance Reader's Edition of her latest book, The Beginner's Goodbye. This one is to be published in April and has this to say about itself:
Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron has spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. So when he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, independent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. Unhesitatingly, he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable marriage.
But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only Dorothy's unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace. And gradually he discovers that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying good bye.
A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler's humor, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles.
Considering that my fiction-reading-ratio favors men authors by more than a 2-1 margin over women authors, it was unlikely that I would so completely fall in love with the fiction of Anne Tyler and Joyce Carol Oates the way I have, but the pair of them (different as they are) have been two of my top four favorite authors for over three decades now. Ms. Tyler is much less prolific (as in not prolific at all) than Ms. Oates when it comes to releasing titles, so this is good day - and this one might just jump to the top of my monster-sized TBR stack.
Posted by Sam at 3:04 PM 7 comments
Labels: Blog News, Book News
The China Gambit
Political thriller fans demand a few specific things from the genra, among them: non-stop action, a plausible plot, and fearless good guys they can watch spoil the dangerous plans of the baddies. It is a bonus when any of the main characters are especially believable or well-developed. Allan Topol comes very close to giving his fans that bonus in his latest, The China Gambit, the first volume of his planned trilogy featuring ex-CIA agent Craig Page.
Since being pushed out of the CIA, Page, in the role of private consultant, has taken his fight against international terrorism to Europe. But when he learns that his daughter has been killed while working on a "big story" for a New York City newspaper, Page puts everything aside to find out who is responsible. When both Page and his daughter's editor, Elizabeth Crowder, become convinced that Francesca Page's death was no accident, they team up to avenge her murder.
Unfortunately for those responsible for the murder, they have unknowingly killed the daughter of a man directly experienced in stopping just the sort of plot they are devising to cripple the United States economy. Even more unfortunate for the bad guys, Elizabeth Crowder, though less experienced than Page, will prove to be a highly capable partner to him as their investigation takes them around the globe.
Allan Topal
The China Gambit is a wild ride that will find Craig and Elizabeth working undercover inside both Iran and China, usually one tiny step ahead of those determined to stop them – when they are lucky. Craig Page proves to be an interesting character with a long history and an intriguing worldview. Topol does an admirable job of telling Page's backstory in this first volume, but readers will likely learn much more about the man's makeup in the last two books of the series. Elizabeth Crowder, on the other hand, is almost too good to be true, considering that she has almost no hands-on experience in fighting (or even much being around) terrorists and what they do. But she is not really too much of a stretch because, for most thriller fans, suspending one's disbelief is second nature; it comes with the territory. After all, do any of us ever really expect that our hero will die or fail in the end? Consider how much more exciting political thrillers would be if we could achieve the impossible by convincing ourselves that things might actually go wrong for our hero.
Rated at: 4.0
Sleepy in Houston
It seems like I've been gone forever - and I suppose that, in the blogging world, four days is pretty much the equivalent of forever. Frankly, I have felt so terrible during most of my MIA days that this is the first time I've even considered cranking up the computer. Seems that I finally picked up the version of the Houston Crud that's been plaguing my side of town for the last three weeks or so, and it turns out that this bug is a hard one to shake. Some of my co-workers (and my wife) have fought it over the better part of two weeks before returning to anything even close to feeling normal.
For me, with Friday and Saturday being by far the worst, it's only been a total of five days. I'm a good bit better today, but I spent at least 20 hours sound asleep on Friday, followed by another 14 hours on Saturday. In the middle of all this, two rooms of my house are being re-floored - and I slept right through it all. Anyway, I'm planning to try to return to the office tomorrow. Wish me luck with that.
Posted by Sam at 11:46 AM 2 comments
Labels: Blog News
Killer Stuff and Tons of Money
Thanks to television networks such as The History Channel and A&E, hundreds of thousands of people now dream about getting rich off something they stumble on at a neighborhood garage sale. A few of them even have high hopes that someday their flea-market habit will produce a steady enough profit to free them from the nine-to-five rat race they dread so much. Maureen Stanton's Killer Stuff and Tons of Money (subtitled: Seeking History and Hidden Gems in Flea-Market America) is here to tell you that it is not nearly as easy as American Pickers and Pawn Stars make it appear to be.
Over the years, Stanton's longtime friend Curt Avery occasionally has taken her along when he goes to work in the morning. What makes that a rewarding experience for both of them is that Avery's workplace is the multitude of flea-markets, estate sales, antique shows, and auction houses to be found on the East Coast. He tries to pass on some of the knowledge with which his years of experience have rewarded him, and Stanton provides a little bit of free labor toward unpacking, re-packing, and setting-up his sales area. Killer Stuff and Tons of Money is very much Avery's life story.
Although it does a remarkable job of educating the reader via valuable tips on how to judge the authenticity and value of particular types of antiques, this is not an antique guide. It is, rather, a portrayal of what one man goes through 52 weeks of the year as he tries to pay his family's bills and put food on the table by hustling from one flea-market or antique show to the next. It is a dose of reality for the dreamers that believe this is going to be easy.
Maureen Stanton
Curt Avery has been an antique picker ever since his boyhood days of digging for bottles in some of the nation's earliest garbage heaps. He probably, because of his reading and on-the-job studying of them, knows as much about antiques as most anyone out there. Avery readily admits, however, that his instinct and his skill in bundling numerous bits of information to reach a likely conclusion about a piece guide his purchases as much as what the books tell him. His is a world filled with con men, forgers, and fakes that fool even the most knowledgeable high-end antique dealers. Avery has, of course, been burned numerous times by fakes (scary as that thought is to amateurs like us) but chalks his losses up as part of the cost of his education.
Maureen Stanton has written a painlessly educational book that at times reads more like a novel. Following Avery's ups and downs through the years and meeting some of the regulars with whom he competes is great fun. As one would expect, those who make their living in the world of antique hunting and reselling are a separate breed. Killer Stuff and Tons of Money allows the rest of us safe access to that world for a little while.
Labels: Library Book (2012), Reviews
Black on Black Book Trailer Scores
Michael Ian Black, as of just ten minutes ago, was not a name that I recognized - meaning that I had no idea a new memoir of his is being promoted. Then I stumbled upon this Simon & Schuster book trailer, a clever piece of film editing that allows Black to interview himself about the book.
So it's "mission accomplished", Simon & Schuster. The book is now on my radar and, if I see it on the bookstore shelves, I will almost certainly spend a few minutes looking it over. Who knows what might happen from there?
Rather than tell you anything about Michael Ian Black, I'll let you watch the trailer cold (assuming that many of you will also draw a blank on him like I did) to see if it makes you as curious about the new book as it made me.
Labels: Authors, Book News, YouTube
Sleep No More
Sleep No More is my first exposure to anything written by Greg Iles and, in fairness to him, I want to stress that I experienced the novel in audio book format, not as a printed version. Although the book's narrator did grow on me over the course of the book's ten CDs, his lack of preparation irritated me a number of times. For instance, the man had no idea that Schlumberger is not pronounced to rhyme with hamburger. Schlumberger is a French oil field service company, one of the largest in the world, and to hear its name mispronounced a dozen or so times in quick succession became a major distraction. In addition, several of the book's characters are from Louisiana and, in dealing with them, the narrator managed to mispronounce a city or two from that state and speak in one of the least authentic Cajun accents I have ever heard.
So remember that I am reviewing an audio book here – not simply a Greg Iles novel – and that one point has been deducted from my rating based on the quality of the audio work.
The storyline of Sleep No More is an intriguing one that kept me guessing for a long time whether I was reading a straight crime novel or a Stephen Kingish horror novel. Its principle character is John Waters, who while attending the University of Mississippi had a passionate (and destructive) affair with a young woman who became Miss Mississippi while they were involved. Sadly, just a few years later, Mallory Candler was raped and murdered in New Orleans. Before her death, however, her bizarre behavior almost cost John Waters his life.
Years later, John Waters is married, has a little girl, and is making a good living as a Mississippi oil wildcatter. His is a risky business, but he has been successful more times than not. All is well in John's world until a beautiful young woman approaches him on the soccer field after one of his daughter's matches. The woman, Eve Sumner, leaves John with a knowing look and the same whispered word that he and Mallory exchanged when they wanted to sneak away together. He is spooked by the encounter and cannot stop thinking about it.
Greg Iles
Sleep No More is a better mystery than it is a horror novel. Its best moments come when John is trying to determine exactly what is happening to him, whether or not he can trust his partner and best friend, and his fight to stay out of prison. The horror aspect of the novel is not nearly so satisfying, at least in part because of the lack of closure provided by the book's final pages.
Labels: Audio Books, Library Book (2012), Reviews
Abandoned: The Confession
I know how he feels...
I've been told that in parts of the Arab world a husband can legally divorce his wife by declaring to her three times in succession the words "I divorce thee." Whether this old law is still actually practiced anywhere, I don't know. What I do know is that I must say something very similar to John Grisham's The Confession: I abandon thee, I abandon thee, I abandon thee.
There, it's official. No more will I have to suffer through the boredom of page after page of the recitation of facts about death row and the implementation of the death penalty in Texas. Nor will I have to force myself through page after page of a recapitulation of the fictitious trial transcript of one of the book's main characters, a young black man on death row for something with which he had nothing to do. Enough, already! I can't believe I forced myself to endure this kind of thing for almost one-third of the book.
I refuse to go on...and I feel better already. Damn it, guys, in a novel I want you to show me, not tell me. When such a high percentage of a novel's pages (especially whole chapters) do this kind of thing, I may as well be reading nonfiction - and nonfiction on the same subject is almost always better written than this kind of rote regurgitation of fact after fact.
Labels: Blog News, Opinion
Library of America Reaches 225 Books on March 29
Did you know there are now 225 books in the Library of America series? The LOA was founded in 1979 with the mission "to help preserve the nation's cultural heritage by publishing America's best and most significant writing in durable and authoritative editions." It's first volume was Herman Melville, Typee, Oono, Mardi, and its most recent (number 225), David Goodis, Five Noir Novels of 1940s and 50s, will be available on March 29.
I bring this up because this is my favorite series of books and one that I have been collecting for a number of years (although from my slow progress, you would probably wonder how it could really have been that long). There are no modern books that look as good grouped together on a bookshelf as the LOA books. The series comes in high quality cloth bindings in four basic colors: tan, blue, red, and green - all in very classy, traditional tones. The cloth used is consistent within volumes of an author's work no matter what year the book may have been published, so removing the dust jackets and grouping them by color allows authors' works to be kept together.
This picture from June 2010 shows that I had only 14 LOA titles
(See middle section, 2nd shelf - double click on the photo)
Just today, I picked up two more of the Mark Twain volumes, giving me five of the seven Twain collections in the LOA series. All told, that gives me 35 LOA books on the shelves - with two other brand new ones that I picked up in eBay auctions on Friday night arriving soon (I hope).
If you are a collector as well as a reader, you would do well to consider the Library of America books as something to enhance your collection. These books are of such high quality that they will last forever and can be passed on from generation to generation as the core of a traditional American lit library.
Labels: Book News
Stunning Colorization of Abe Lincoln Portrait
You'll have to take my word about the link I'm going to post below: It is going to be one of your favorite photos of the year.
This is a colorized portrait of Abraham Lincoln that will stun you with its clarity and realism. You will notice (probably for the first time, as I did) that Mr. Lincoln was almost perfectly still during the taking of his portrait other than the movement of his hands - as evidenced by their blurring and the double image of the pencil he held.
I am truly amazed at the life and humanity color adds to a picture I have seen in black and white so many times. The quality of this photo, as evidenced by the beard and facial creases, is breathtaking.
Go here for the photo (I didn't want to wait for permission to post the actual picture here).
Do make sure that you view the picture as close to full screen size as you can.
Labels: Opinion
Authors Guild Fires Its Own Shot at Amazon
Yesterday the Authors Guild joined in the attack on Amazon for what so many in the industry see as that company's unfair business practices. Mincing no words, the Guild hammered home its main points at the authorsguild.org website:
Useful innovation should of course be rewarded, but we've long had laws in place (limits on the duration and scope of patent protections, antitrust laws, stricter regulation of industries considered natural monopolies) that aim to prevent innovators and others from capturing a market or an industry. There's good reason for this: those who capture a market tend to be a bit rough on other participants in the market. They also tend to stop innovating.
Amazon's reward for developing the wireless e-reader should have been that it would become a significant vendor of e-books and earn a profit commensurate with the value it added to the publishing ecosystem. Whether it would then continue to be a significant e-book vendor should have depended on whether it continued to innovate and provide good service to its customers. Amazon's reward should not have included being able to combine its wireless e-reader, deep pockets, and an existing dominant position in a related, but separate, market -- the online market for physical books -- to prevent other vendors from entering the e-book market.
...through creative use of its capital and ever-growing market power, by compelling publishers to participate in its free book-of-the-month club for Kindle owners, by requiring public libraries to redirect their patrons to Amazon's commercial website to borrow books for their Kindles, by starting an imprint to compete for authors now published by the largest commercial houses, and, no doubt, by countless uses of its powerful database of consumer behavior, Amazon continues to tighten its grip on the book industry.
...Barnes & Noble is book publishing's sole remaining substantial firewall. Without it, browsing in a bookstore would become a thing of the past for much of the country, and we would largely lose the most important means for new literary voices to be discovered.
A truly competitive, open market has no indispensable player that can call the shots. The book publishing industry has such a player, and Amazon is poised and by all appearances eager to use its muscle to rip up the remaining physical infrastructure of book retailing and the vital book-browsing ecosystem it supports.
In my effort to make clear the Authors Guild's position on the Amazon vs. Other Booksellers war, I have done more quoting than I like to do. Please click on the link at the beginning of this post so that you can read the whole thing on the Authors Guild website. This is getting serious. If Amazon keeps growing its market share at the pace it is growing now, we will ultimately be faced with higher book prices, fewer choices, and few bookstores left to put our hands on books before they arrive in the mail - if there are still physical books to mail, that is. I, for one, am horrified by the thought of a book world dominated by e-books.
I collect books, not bytes.
Labels: Book News, Bookstores, E-Books, Opinion
Holy Ghost Girl
I have not experienced the kind of religion described by Donna Johnson in Holy Ghost Girl, but I have long been curious about what really happens in some of those large tent revivals that one ran across so frequently in past decades (and in lesser numbers even today). How much money is actually used for the purposes for which it is donated? Are any of the healings unexplainable, or are they all preplanned fakes? What are these "men of God" like after hours, behind closed doors? Are they believers or performers? Donna Johnson, whose family became part of David Terrell's traveling ministry when she was just three, is certainly in the position to answer these questions and, in Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir, she does answer many of them.
From Johnson's earliest memory, her family was part of David Terrell's inner circle. Her mother was Terrell's organist, and with her mother and brother, she traveled from city to city in Terrell's personal vehicle alongside his wife and two children. The families' relationship was a close one, but it would be some time before Johnson was old enough to figure out just how close her mother and Terrell really were.
Johnson very effectively tells her story through the eyes of a child. What she reveals from one chapter to the next is largely how she perceived events while things were happening around her. She speaks both of the awe she felt at some of what she witnessed and the utter boredom that came with having to sit in a folding chair night after night (and during afternoon sessions) during the nearly weeklong revivals that she experienced for several years. Johnson's account of the ministry's early days, days during which there was barely enough money for gasoline and fees to set up in the next city, is particularly affecting. But she also visits the other side of the coin, when the money was coming in so fast that Terrell could squander much of it on separate, hidden homes for the lovers (including her mother) he stashed around the country.
Telling this story through the eyes of a youngster, however, allows some questions to remain unanswered. There is little doubt that David Terrell did some good things. Particularly impressive was his willingness in the 1960s to physically stand up to the KKK thugs who threatened his life, and tried to shut him down, when he refused to close his ministry to blacks even while working in the deepest South. Less impressive is Johnson's revelation about what Terrell and his inner circle really felt about blacks during that period – in their closed door, inner circle moments.
Donna M. Johnson
Frustratingly, no truths are revealed about the healing aspect of this type of ministry. Johnson describes many of the successes she witnessed without ever questioning their validity. Some of what she describes, if it really happened the way she recalls it, would certainly qualify as miraculous. My disappointment with the book is that, considering how young its author was when she witnessed most of what she describes, I feel no closer to the truth about the healings than I was before I read her story.
But how anyone could possibly resist a memoir whose prologue begins with a sentence as intriguing as this one left on Johnson's answering machine: "Donna, I don't know if you're coming to the funeral, but I heard Daddy's gonna try to raise Randall from the dead."
I could not.
Read Pulp Magazines Online
I've been playing all afternoon over at a site I stumbled upon called The Pulp Magazines Project. The project is described this way on the website:
The Pulp Magazines Project is an open-access digital archive dedicated to the study and preservation of one of the twentieth century's most influential literary & artistic forms: the all-fiction pulpwood magazine. The Project also provides information on the history of this important but long neglected medium, along with biographies of pulp authors, artists, and their publishers.
All that is wonderful, of course, but the best part is that lots of the pulp magazines from the very early twentieth century (if not earlier) have been digitally reproduced there and whole copies of the magazine can be leafed through and read page-by-page. These old magazines are fascinating even if you do nothing but read the advertising inside them.
I will warn you that the PDF versions of the magazines seem to take forever to open up. The FlipBook versions, on the other hand, open up very quickly.
I can already see that I'm going to be spending a considerable amount of time on the site. If you enjoy this kind of thing, take a look here. When you get to the homepage, just click where it says "Magazines in the Project Archive."
This Mobius Strip of Ifs
Seldom have I run across a collection of essays as revealing, provoking, and inspiring as Mathias Freese's This Mobius Strip of Ifs. Freese is at a place in his life that lends itself to deep introspection about the "what-ifs" of a lifetime spent searching for the truth about himself and his relationship to a society of which he largely disapproves. This collection of thirty-six essays, written over a period of four decades, chronicles everything from Freese's childhood memories, to his battle to free himself of society's conditioning and regimentation, to the loss of an adult daughter who succumbed to the chronic pain she could no longer tolerate and took her own life. There are so many ideas packed into this 164-page book, in fact, that it is difficult to know where to begin discussing them.
The essays themselves are divided into three sections, the first of which is titled by a Nietzsche quotation: "Knowledge is Death." In this section are pieces on things such as Freese's experiences as a frustrated high school teacher, his later career as a therapist, his admiration of Thomas Jefferson and Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great, and a scalding few pages about the pretentiousness and maliciousness of book-reviewing bloggers, "some of whom imagine they are literary critics."
I find one quote from the Hitchens essay to be particularly striking – and revealing:
"To learn that most of what you have learned from the elders of your own family, your ethnicity and your nation is organized bullshit can be terribly frightening, ultimately moving and then considerably bracing."
Mathias B. Freese
The book's second section is entitled "Metaphorical Noodles" and focuses on Freese's appreciation of a handful of actors and movies. This portion of the book includes individual essays on Buster Keaton, Peter Lorre, and Orson Welles, as well as one on Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Freese's deep love of Buster Keaton's work convinced me that finding some of Keaton's early films is something I need to do. Having enjoyed two of the films now, I thank him for that.
The third section of the book, "The Seawall," is comprised of Freese's thoughts on his relationship to his children and his "Remembrances of Things Past." The theme here, if perhaps a bit more concisely expressed, is much like what Freese presents in the book's first group of essays. Looking back on his life now, Mathias Freese can say, "I have few regrets. It is what it is, it is what I have been given." He had to work very hard, for a long, long time, to reach this point in his life. May This Mobius Strip of Ifs gently push the rest of us in that direction.
The Lady in the Lake
The Lady in the Lake, Raymond Chandler's fourth Philip Marlowe novel, was written just a few months after Pearl Harbor (published in 1943) but there are surprisingly few references to the war in it. Perhaps this reflects Chandler's take on how the war affected Americans of the day – that, unless a son or husband was in the military, everyday life went on pretty much as normal. Or maybe he simply did not want to clutter up his murder mystery with too many references to such a catastrophic world event. Whatever his reasoning may have been, The Lady in the Lake still holds up well when compared to most of the crime fiction being produced today.
Philip Marlowe has been hired by Derace Kingsley, a perfume company tycoon, to find his missing wife, a woman Kingsley believes has run off to Mexico with her lover. As a place to begin his search, Kingsley points Marlowe in the direction of the couple's remote getaway cabin located in the California hills on Little Fawn Lake. While being shown around the site, Chandler and the property's caretaker, Bill Chess, spot a woman's body in the shallow waters of the lake. That is when Chandler realizes that he is dealing with something much more complicated than the search for a man's runaway wife.
Raymond Chandler is deservedly well known for his noir fiction and The Lady in the Lake is representative of that style. The novel is filled with strong characters bordering on what have become almost stereotypical types in noir fiction, all of whom play their parts well but offer little in the way of surprises. Derace Kingsley is the hard headed businessman who has little time or respect for those who do not play in his league. Al Degarmo is a brutal cop so confident and high on himself because of his unchallenged power on the streets that he has no fear of ever being exposed. On the other hand, two of Chandler's characters do have a nice feel of authenticity about them: Bill Chess, the cantankerous caretaker at Little Fawn Lake, and Sheriff Jim Patton whose jurisdiction includes the lake area. Patton, in particular, is one of those memorable characters with whom most readers will easily identify.
The flaw in The Lady in the Lake appears late. As the book nears its finish, Chandler's hardcore style morphs into what more resembles the Agatha Christie school of cozy detective fiction endings. Trapped in a small cabin with the person he believes is a coldblooded killer and the lawman that can make the arrest, Marlowe begins a monologue during which he notes and eliminates, one-by-one, the possible suspects. Marlowe does manage to spook his suspect into a fatal mistake, but it is always a letdown to the reader to have so much action take place "offstage."
The Lady in the Lake may not be considered classic Chandler in the way that The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, and Farewell, My Lovely are, but Chandler fans will not want to miss it.
Its Amazon vs. Everyone Else in the Publishing World
Here's a bit more on Amazon Print Books vs. the rest of the Publishing and Bookseller World.
The Barnes & Noble decision not to sell Amazon-published books in its bookstores has been applauded (and duplicated) by two Canadian booksellers: Books-A-Million and Indigo. In addition, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) has decided to boycott the books.
Too, according to this article on thenextweb.com, Publishers Weekly has reported that the ABA-owned IndieCommerce company will not be listing any of the Amazon-published titles in its database. Spokesman Matt Supko had this to say about the decision:
"While Amazon is seeking to distribute its print catalogue through conventional means, it seems that they are simultaneously pursuing a strategy of locking in e-book exclusives which other retailers are not allowed to sell. IndieCommerce believes that is wrong."
Whether any of these decisions has a significant impact on Amazon's business strategy remains to be seen, of course. But it is becoming very obvious that the rest of the book world is not willing to sit back and allow Amazon to work its way toward a bookselling monopoly uncontested. This is getting more and more interesting every day.
Labels: Bookstores
Amazon Plans to Open Brick and Mortar Store of Its Own?
The battle between Amazon and Barnes & Noble is starting to remind me of a chess match. A few days ago (Feb 1, to be exact), I posted about B&N's strategic decision not to sell Amazon-published books in any of its brick and mortar bookstores. B&N said at the time that the decision was a protest against Amazon's policy of tying publishers and authors to exclusive deals that would hurt other booksellers. So, effectively, Amazon print books were being banned from the largest remaining bookstore chain in the country.
OK, Amazon, you're move.
Yesterday I read this article about what appears to be Amazon's decision to open up a test brick and mortar store of its own in Seattle. Reportedly, this store will sell much more than just books, but if it does well in Seattle, it is easy to see Amazon stores spreading across the country - if not the world - opening up a walk-in market for Amazon print books.
We have heard that the time-frame of their first location starting up will be before the end of the year to capitalize on the lucrative holiday season. The store may also roll out towards the Fall when their own publishing imprint will officially launch and the first few books will be released. I expect it to launch soon after the Kindle Fire 2 is announced to maximize the exposure they are going to get.
OK, Barnes & Noble, you're move.
Labels: Book News, Bookstores
Nympho Librarian
You guys know how much I love and enjoy those old paperback covers from the fifties - as I've posted in several "Sinful Saturday" topics here on Book Chase.
Well, this one is destined to become one of my all-time favorites as it combines my love of books and libraries with my love of pulp fiction covers:
What a multi-tasker...he's still holding tight to his favorite book.
I hope all my librarian friends out there have a good sense of humor...if not, let me hear from you anyway.
Labels: Book News, Sinful Saturday
Once again, I find myself showing up late for a series of novels featuring several recurring characters. Thankfully, as is the case with Jassy Mackenzie's Jade de Long series, that is not always a bad thing. The Fallen, Mackenzie's third Jade de Long novel, works so well as a standalone novel, in fact, that I now want to go back and read her two previous ones featuring this feisty South African private investigator.
Jade de Long is taking scuba lessons in St. Lucia while she waits for her boyfriend, police superintendent David Patel, to join her for the romantic holiday she has planned for them. Still fighting the panic attacks that make it impossible for her to remain underwater for any length of time, Jade is grateful for the kind and patient attention she is receiving from dive instructor Amanda Bolton. She genuinely likes the young instructor and is intrigued when she learns that only a few months earlier Amanda had been working as an air traffic controller.
Things begin to go bad when David arrives with news about a personal matter that will adversely affect their relationship. Jade, reacting badly to David's revelation and not wanting to return to the cabin she shares with him, winds up spending the night in another man's bed. Then, before she can confront David about whether they still have future together, she discovers that Amanda Bolton has been stabbed to death.
David offers to help the undermanned local police department with the murder investigation, and Jade, feeling some personal loyalty to Amanda, works with him every step of the way. As Jade and David pick away at the few clues they start with, they learn just how complicated the situation they have stumbled into really is. Each thread they pull on leads them in a new direction, adds suspects to their list, and puts their own lives at greater risk.
Jassy Mackenzie
Jassy Mackenzie certainly has a winner in the fearless Jade de Long character, but the greater strength of The Fallen is how she blends her characters into the fabric of contemporary South African culture. The book offers enlightening looks at the dangerously high crime rates of the country's major cities, everyday interaction between the races, and the environmental issues that threaten that part of the world. All of this is so seamlessly integrated into her storyline that it is absorbed as just another element of a Jade de Long mystery.
The Fallen is not scheduled for publication until April 2012, so there is still time to read the first two books in the series, Random Violence (2008) and Stolen Lives (2010), before this new one hits the shelves.
Happy 200th Birthday to Mr. Dickens
Happy 200th birthday to Charles Dickens. I posted this little BBC biography a couple of years ago and was pleased to see that it is still available. Take a look... the whole life of Charles Dickens told in just over four minutes.
I haven't read any Dickens in several months but this is making me want to pull another one off the shelves. Enjoy.
Labels: Author Birthday Wishes
The Good Father
Political assassinations are such horrifying events that we search for ways to explain them to ourselves. We hope that the murderer is insane or the member of some extremist group so far on the fringe that he and others like him are exceptionally weird - and rare. The last thing we want to believe is that these killers can spring from average families that include loving brothers and sisters, or that their parents are as surprised by their sons' crimes as the rest of us. A normal person should just not be capable of such a crime. What few of us ever consider is the effect, both long and short term, this kind of crime has on the killer's parents. Dr. Paul Allen, the main character of Noah Hawley's The Good Father, is one of those parents.
Daniel Allen's parents divorced when he was seven years old. After the divorce, Dr. Allen moved from Los Angeles to New York to begin his new medical practice. There he remarried, fathered two young sons Daniel barely knows, and became one of New York's most prominent physicians. In the meantime, Daniel was growing up under the care of a woman who could hardly care for herself, much less him. In his teens, Daniel would move to New York to live with his father's second family but he would never feel that he belonged there.
The country is stunned when the man who seems destined to be the next president of the United States is gunned down at a Los Angeles political event. The Paul Allen family receives an even greater shock when, just minutes later, they see on television that 20-year-old Daniel is believed to be the shooter. Suddenly, the FBI is at Paul's front door and television news reporters are right behind the agents. This marks the beginning of Paul Allen's quest to prove his son's innocence, a journey that will see him put his new marriage at risk, consider the most outlandish conspiracy theories imaginable, spend thousands of dollars, and relocate his family to rural Colorado in search of a place to live in peace.
The Good Family is a book about obsession, rationalization, and false hope. It is a book about blind love and parental guilt, but it touches on broader themes such as how one instant can forever change individual lives and the direction of an entire country. The Good Family is about choices – those made and those not made.
All of these are worthy themes for a book to tackle, but the story itself is surprisingly lifeless considering the depth of emotions Paul Allen experiences. Paul is the only fully developed character in the book, causing all the rest, even Daniel, to feel a bit flat in comparison. Too, the numerous case studies of famous real life assassinations, within which Paul tries to find some similarity between those assassins and his son, give the book a disjointed feel. There are also the way too many reminders that Paul is taking a "scientific approach" to proving his son's innocence, the same approach he uses in his practice to diagnose a mysterious illness. After the third or fourth reminder, I grew bored with the repetition and began to question the author's faith in his readers' memories. This is a case of a plot and message being better than their execution.
Squeezing in a Few Pages on Super Bowl Sunday
Ferris Bueller Superbowl Commercial
As I'm sure all of you know, this is Super Bowl Sunday. It's hard to hide from it, even if you might want to do that. I had lunch with my dad this morning and learned that his assisted living is going to show the game in the little movie theater they have there. It seats about 60 people, the sound is excellent, the screen is huge, and it looks like a great place for up to half the residents to watch the game together. I think I talked him into watching at least the first half of the game there.
My wife is in the kitchen preparing a potato salad to feed twenty that we are carrying to our own Super Bowl party this afternoon. So, all in all, I won't have much reading time today. I have, however, finished The Good Father, a novel about the father of a boy who becomes a political assassin. I did not find it to be nearly as moving a read as I expected it to be, so I have to call it a bit of a disappointment. I'm going to gather my thoughts on that one for a couple of days before trying to express them in a formal review.
I decided to go to my Library of America Raymond Chandler collection to choose one of his "later novels" as my next book. I settled on The Lady in the Lake from 1943, and I'm already hooked. It really surprises me how contemporary this one still feels. Except for the obvious references to telegrams instead of cell phones, and the like, this one could be set in today's world. Of course, I'm only about 35 pages in, so that will likely change.
Well, I'm off to get in another few pages before it's time to get dressed for the party...have fun.
It's Not Too Late - But Hurry
"Dear World Book Night book giver." Hey, that's me - and it could be YOU!
I received an email this morning alerting me that my application to participate in World Book Night on April 23 has been approved, so it looks like I'll be giving away 20 copies of one of my favorite books, John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, that night. I'm looking forward to the evening, and I plan to document the experience via a few photos.
But, even better is the news that it's not too late to land a U.S. spot in the event for yourself because the application deadline has been extended to midnight (not sure what time zone that is, so play it safe) on February 6.
Visit the WBN site from this link and sign up if interested. All the details can be found there, including the application and a list of 30 titles from which you can choose your giveaway copies. Should be lots of fun - and a very rewarding experience to boot. Hurry...
A Stranger on the Planet
Seth Shapiro is blessed, some would say cursed, with the ability to remember all the little things that have ever happened to him. His estranged father tells Seth that he remembers "everything that's not important." Perhaps what Seth remembers is unimportant to everyone else, but each specific incident he recounts in Adam Schwartz's debut novel, A Stranger on the Planet, marks him deeply and helps make him into the man he becomes.
It is 1969 and the Shapiro family, having been abandoned by Seth's father, is down to four: twins, Seth and Sarah; little brother Seamus; and Ruth, their 35-year-old mother. Dr. Shapiro has moved out of state to start a family with his new French wife and Ruth is overly anxious about finding a new father-figure for the children. Unfortunately for all of them, Ruth is the kind of woman willing to accept just about anyone she can plug into that slot.
The kindest thing one can say about Ruth's relationship with her three children is that she means well. She wants the best for them but, deep down inside, it is really all about Ruth. Hers is such a fragile ego that she relies on her children for the kind of emotional support she should be offering them. That their father seems oblivious to their existence (despite the financial support he provides), compounds their emotional instability.
Adam Schwartz
Seth, Sarah, and Seamus respond quite differently to their dysfunctional upbringing. Seamus, too young to remember much about his father, looks to a strict adherence to his Jewish faith for the stability and structure he needs in his life. Sarah and Seth turn to each other for that kind of stability, but react differently to their father's indifference toward them. On the one hand, Sarah accepts her father for what he is: a man too cowardly to confront his new wife's feelings about his first family. On the other, Seth never stops yearning for his father's respect and love, but does not recognize how much alike he and his father are. Each of them, to his detriment, finds it impossible to express his emotions.
Much of this coming-of-age novel is funny, some of it even laugh-out-loud funny – especially when Seth, in his refusal to compromise his beliefs or feelings, uses his wit and biting tongue to deflate the pretentiousness he often encounters. But, as the years pass, and Seth continues his struggle to understand himself and his family, the serious tone of the novel becomes more and more evident. The tragedy of a young man who cannot relate to the mother who raised him, but pines for the love of a father who wants as little to do with him as possible, can be hard to watch. There is a lot to take from this one.
The Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon Battle Heats Up
In terms of capitalization value, it's almost this bad for B&N.
The Barnes & Noble announcement today that Amazon-published books will not be sold in Barnes & Noble bookstores is not much of a surprise to anyone who has kept up with the fight for survival that the chain is facing. Spokesman Jamie Carey said today that the decision not to sell the books was made in protest of the exclusive agreements that Amazon is trying to negotiate with publishers, writers, and literary agents.
The Christian Science Monitor has all the details on its website:
"These exclusives have prohibited us from offering certain eBooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to content," Carey continued.
"It's clear to us that Amazon has proven they would not be a good publishing partner to Barnes & Noble as they continue to pull content off the market for their own self interest."
Barnes & Noble said it will continue to make Amazon titles available on its website. But thanks to the traditional book retailer's latest move, Amazon may struggle to get its books into anything but a virtual marketplace.
Read the article. You might be surprised by which company is publishing the Amazon print books and which authors have already signed exclusive agreements with the company.
And the beat goes on...
Labels: Authors, Book News, Bookstores
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text:
A Carriage Ride in Maine With David Rockefeller
This past Columbus Day weekend, I traveled to Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine. You may recall that David Rockefeller is a friend and neighbor and we share many of the same interests, including driving horse-drawn carriages. It was a beautiful weekend and Mr. Rockefeller invited me to join him for a carriage ride through lovely Acadia National Park. This is really quite an honor considering that this network of forty-five miles of gravel and crushed rock carriage roads were built as a gift by David's father, John D. Rockefeller Jr. from 1913 to 1940. I think you'll see from these photos, just how much thought and planning went into the design and construction of these beautiful roads, featuring both expansive vistas and close-up studies of the landscape.
At 96-years of age, David Rockefeller, still loves to ride in his horse-drawn carriages along the graceful roads designed by his father and grandfather, both here in Acadia and also at his family's estate in Pocantico Hills, New York.
And native mosses
And sweet fern
It's said that John D. encouraged the stone cutters to be less than perfect in their cutting so that the rustic look would not be lost.
Rockefeller had a very keen eye and he insisted that these roads be aligned to follow the natural contours of the landscape.
Here I am sitting alongside David Rockefeller, enjoying an exhilarating carriage ride through Acadia National Park. Sem Groenewoud, David Rockefeller's carriage driver, sitting to his right, along with Colin & Nancy Campbell.
He hired experts to design the bridges and engineer the roads and he knew all the laborers by name.
Looking down at the carriage spring and wheel – You can see the detail of a fine paint job. Every carriage has its own unique design.
Another look at this built-to-last construction
The surface is known as broken-stone, in this case broken pink granite – another example of blending in with nature.
Rockefeller was inspired by his father, John D. Rockefeller Sr., the founder of Standard Oil, who built similar roads on his Ohio and New York estates.
The large blocks of granite seen here lining the road serve as guardrails. These roughly cut and irregularly spaced coping stones have been affectionately called 'Rockefeller's teeth.'
You can see why these tranquil carriage roads are so popular for those visiting Acadia National Park.
Spans a gurgling brook.
Here is another great bridge, known as Cliff Side Bridge, constructed in 1932, which…
Unfortunately, this area has been damaged by foot traffic and the National Park Service is asking people to remain on paths and roads so that the damage may be repaired.
Matching cedar signposts, with yellow enamel lettering, are found at intersections to direct carriage drivers. Numbers that match maps and guidebooks are attached to the signposts and help carriage road users find their way.
At the end of the ride, we left the park and entered Rockefeller private property. Notice how this less-traveled road has grass growing on it?
A nice shot of Sem Groenewoud and one of Rockefeller's aristocratic Morgans
Leaving the park on our way back to Seal Harbor, we passed under another majestic stone bridge.
Brian Lindquist, who works for David Rockefeller is enormously knowledgeable about the Rockefeller family history in the Acadia region – and Patrick, son of Sem Groenewoud, steadies the horses – Patrick is a superb horseman.
A beautiful view of Long Pond
This was taken as we left the Rockefeller stable and entered the park at the beginning of the ride.
Whenever possible, David Rockefeller likes to do his own driving.
The network of forty-five miles of gravel and crushed rock carriage roads of Acadia are also enjoyed by cyclists.
Seventeen stone-faced bridges, each with its own unique design, were built to span streams, waterfall, roads, and cliffsides.
Roadsides were planted with native vegetation, such as these low-growing wild Maine blueberries.
These rustic carriage roads were a gift of David's father, philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Rockefeller family.
Even though the bridges are constructed with steel-reinforced concrete, the use of hand hewn native granite for the facing gives the bridges a pleasing natural appearance.
John D. took part in the entire construction process, often making suggestions for exact placement of stones.
John D., a skilled horseman, himself, wanted to travel through Acadia National Park by horse and carriage on motor-free roadways.
He was also very thoughtful about the scenic views.
These roads were constructed with Maine's wet weather in mind and they have very good drainage.
When there was a view to enjoy, a viewing area was built.
After the construction was complete, Rockefeller consulted with famed landscape architect Beatrix Farrand for planting designs to mend any building scars in the flora.
These carriage roads are approximately 16-feet wide, allowing ample room when meeting another horse-drawn carriage.
This handsome pair of draft horses was wearing white ear bonnets to keep pesky flies out their ears.
A rather serious looking hiker
This Japanese maple is certainly vibrant against the landscape.
This mass of rocks actually the result of a rock slide, which tumbled down the slope.
Island granite was quarried for roads and bridges.
A view of Long Pond and the ocean beyond
The use of such native materials helped to blend the roadways in with the natural landscape.
Rather than flattening hillsides to accommodate the roads, breast walls and retaining walls were built to save trees and to preserve the line of hillsides.
David Rockefeller expertly drove the carriage for more than an hour.
Posted in: Friends, Gardens, Holidays, Photo Gallery, Travel

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Nessa Eileen Feddis
Nessa Feddis is Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel for Consumer Protection and Payments in ABA's Center for Regulatory Compliance. She advocates for ABA members, on a variety of consumer banking, fraud, and payment system issues in the federal legislative and regulatory arenas, in particular the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Her responsibilities include relaying ABA's position on such issues to Congress and government agencies and educating bankers on new laws and regulations. She has testified before Congress on behalf of the banking industry. In addition, she represents the ABA in press and public forms as ABA spokesperson on consumer protection issues. In recent years, she has been involved with regulatory and legislative matters relating to and consumer credit, credit and debit cards, privacy, deposit accounts, payments systems, emerging electronic payment systems, and credit card and check fraud prevention.
She received her law degree from Catholic University and is a member of the Washington, D.C. Bar. She is also a fellow and former President of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers and former Chair of the Subcommittee on Electronic Fund Transfers of the American Bar Association's Consumer Financial Services Committee. Her articles discussing regulatory and legislative developments in consumer banking matters have appeared in ABA Banking Journal and ABA Bank Compliance.
Former Chair, ABA Subcommittee on Electronic Fund Transfer of the Consumer Financial Services Committee
Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel
Government Relations Division
American Bankers Association
1120 Connecticut Ave., NW
aba.com


Jason Dunford recreated the Beijing magic during which he stunned the swimming world with his Olympic record, with a brilliant win in the Butterfly dash in the sixth round of the FINA World cup series.
Four years after the fantastic 51.14 seconds win in the 100m fly that granted him a historic Olympic final qualification, the top Kenyan swimmer waded his way in similar fashion for the 50m fly gold at the National Aquatics centre 'the Watercube' in 23.14 seconds.
This was his second dash gold after the opening leg in Dubai and a couple of near misses in Stockholm, Doha and Moscow last month.
Dunford skipped Berlin (October 20-21) the fifth of the eight leg series to recoup after a hectic last six weeks, which besides the world cup series he also competed at the African swimming championships.
The break seems to have worked for the reigning Commonwealth fly champion as eased his way through his morning heat in 23.24 seconds the second fastest time of the day just 0.01 slower than Chinese Qibin Zhang winner of heat four.
His usual solid start again counted as he tapped the wall first and managed to hold off the charging Chinese competing for his club at the series.
Zhang was timed at 23.16 for silver as Australian Ashley Delaney settled for bronze in23.43. On Saturday Dunford will be in action in the 100m fly.


This large sand dollar stepping stone mold produces realistic looking large sand dollar stepping stones. The finished castings measure approximtely 17" in diameter. Safe for resin, concrete and all castable stones.


Soon return home the king of all the seas and oceans Triton. If you still do not know what is the father of Ariel. Take your mouse and start to debug things in their place.
Soon return home the king of all the seas and oceans Triton. If you still do not know what is the father of Ariel. Take your mouse and start to debug things in their place. If you do not determine the right place, you get -10 points.


text:
"Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" is een kort verhaal van de Britse sciencefictionschrijver Brian Aldiss uit 1969. Het verhaal speelt zich af in een tijd waar mensen samenleven met machines die een hoge artificiële intelligentie hebben en daarnaast kampen met geboortebeperking gezien de aarde overbevolkt is.

Inhoud

Het verhaal gaat over de familie Swinton. Zoon David is een scholier die moeite heeft om zijn gevoelens te uiten. Moeder Monica is het beu om afgelegen en geïsoleerd te leven. Vader Henry werkt in een fabriek die robots tracht te maken die kunnen dienen als metgezel voor mensen. Uiteindelijk achterhaalt David dat hij geen echte mens is, maar een robot uit die fabriek.

Film
Het verhaal diende als basis voor de film Artificial Intelligence: A.I., een onafgewerkt project van Stanley Kubrick. Na zijn dood besloot Steven Spielberg om de film te regisseren en het script van Kubrick gedeeltelijk te herschrijven.

Heruitgave en vervolg
Naar aanleiding van de film werd het boek tezamen met andere nieuwe verhalen in 2001 opnieuw uitgegeven.

Referenties

Sciencefictionverhaal
Roman uit 1969

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The self-shot photo of Kim Yoo Jung becomes a discussion topic.
Recently on an online discussion board, a daily life photo of Kim Yoo Jung, the popular young actress in MBC drama The Moon Embracing the Sun, was published, attracting attention.
In the photo, Kim Yoo Jung was playing with friends on snow and took photo together. Wearing a green jacket with collar up to her chin, Kim Yoo Jung was gazing at the camera with a watery eyes, exuding charming elegant demeanor. Particularly the long curly hair, revealing a young mature beauty, and the complete different atmosphere from when wearing hanbok in the drama.
Netizens who saw the photos said, "Grow well, now already a beauty!" "Look very handsome!" "Really grown up," and various other reactions.
On the other hand, Kim Yoo Jung is playing the role of Yeon Woo at her young age, receiving attention and gaining popularity.


text:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">

<title>What Are Messages?</title>

Object-Oriented Programming Concepts

    What Are Messages?

A single object alone is generally not very useful and usually appears as
a component of a larger program or application that contains
many other objects. Through the interaction of these objects, programmers
achieve higher order functionality and more complex behavior. Your bicycle
hanging from a hook in the garage is just a bunch of titanium alloy and rubber;
by itself the bicycle is incapable of any activity. The bicycle is useful only
when when another object (you) interacts with it (starts pedaling).

Software objects interact and communicate with each other by sending messages
to each other. When object A wants object B to perform one of B's methods, object A sends a
message to object B.

Sometimes the receiving object needs more information so that it knows
exactly what to do--for example, when you want to change gears on your bicycle,
you have to indicate which gear you want. This information is passed along
with the message as parameters.

Three components comprise a message:

The object to whom the message is addressed (Your Bicycle)

The name of the method to perform (changeGears)

Any parameters needed by the method (lower gear)

These three components are enough information for the receiving object
to perform the desired method. No other information or context is required.

The Benefits of Messages

An object's behavior is expressed through its methods, so (aside from
direct variable access) message passing supports all possible interactions
between objects.

Objects don't need to be in the same process or even on the same machine
to send and receive messages back and forth to each other.

Object-Oriented Programming Concepts

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


shoot element contents did not respond consistently to irrigation using diluted winery wastewater.
indicate that a summer interception crop may increase the evapotranspiration of vineyards substantially.
indicates that sufficient aeration occurred between irrigations, which allowed organic carbon breakdown.
cultivated during summer, grapevine responses may be more pronounced.


For the second time in less than a week, an Elk Grove bank was robbed. This time it was Chase Bank, located at 8725 Elk Grove Blvd. The Elk Grove Police Department has released a photo (see below) and description of the bank robber. The suspect is a white male, age 40-50, heavy set. He passed a note to the teller. No weapons were seen.
On Monday, the US Bank in Elk Grove was robbed. Police believe that is the work of the same person who robbed Farmers and Merchants Bank in January.


permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply[–]Fabriziobeltr 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago(4 children)Where did you get that info from?
I tired one right before 3 came out and I got an error that this particular font (in cydia) was not compatible permalinkembedsavegive gold[–]Teh_Shakes 0 points1 point2 points 11 months ago(0 children)I was permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply[–]mwoolweaveriPhone 6, iOS 9.3.3 4 points5 points6 points 1 month ago(1 child)Spread the word! permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreplyload more comments(3 replies)[–]shadowscottiPhone SE, iOS 9.3.3 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago(0 children)I was using Anemone to theme up until today when I switched back to Winterboard. Published on Apr 20, 2015Today i review a tweak called BytaFont 2!No source needed.
Instructions for jailbreaking iOS 8.0-8.4. BytaFont v2 is localized in Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese. What to install? Tags let readers automatically hide posts using RES and sort through topics that interest them.
AppleTechPro101 46,411 views 6:32 Top 35 Best Cydia Tweaks for iOS 7.1.2 - Duration: 25:30. No posts about removing passcodes from locked devices or bypassing Activation Lock. Wolf 844 views 1:45 BytaFont 2 • iOS 8/9 JailbreakTweak - Duration: 3:28. Assign your device and iOS flair here!
If you see a site selling jailbreaking or unlocking software (or asking you to do a survey before downloading), it's a scam. No memes or image macros. Does Anemone Fonts run off Cydia Substrate?
If you see a site selling jailbreaking or unlocking software (or asking you to do a survey before downloading), it's a scam. Install via iFile or Filza. Got an idea for a tweak? Not bad.
Thanks for the quick fix! permalinkembedsavereportgive goldreply[–]chipsmacoyiPhone 6s, iOS 9.3.2 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago(0 children)Thanks OP, was just about to update permalinkembedsavereportgive goldreply[–]patoonsiPhone 6, iOS 9.3.3 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago(0 children)The update is out Instructions for jailbreaking iOS 8.0-8.4. i dont know why !!


A true story of a glove that's been floating forever since 1965.
An elderly couple from China arrive in the US to organize the funeral rites of their only child. They begin to unravel the escalating fractures in their relationship and the uncertain future that lies ahead of them.
Doug and Walter are an uneven couple. 50-year-old Doughas just been fired. Driven by an outlaw fantasy, he wants to paint the town red. Walter, his former co-worker, is just a shy guy. Together they hit the road and run from adventure to adventure.


text:
CEO, PHD Canada
Alain recently celebrated the 30-year anniversary of his career in media and the 20th anniversary of Touché, the agency he founded in 1996.
During the first 10 years of his career, Alain was a media buyer, seller, consultant, planner, and a director both on the agency and media owners' side.
As Touché's founder, Alain has built a leadership team and uniquely entrepreneurial culture that combined, led Canada's top trade publication to name Touché its 2017 Media Agency of the Year, while also recognizing Alain as the Media Agency Leader of the Year
At the beginning of 2018, Alain's strong track record made him the perfect choice to take the CEO position at PHD Canada, responsibility that has been added to his current role at Touché.
Alain shares his professional life between Toronto and Montreal, while his family life is rooted in Montreal, with his wife Josée and their three children, Lucas, Maude and Alice.


text:
73rd Legislature
1983, Regular Session
Minnesota Session Laws - 1983, Regular Session
Keyword Search 1983, Regular Session
Laws of Minnesota 1983
CHAPTER 269--S.F.No. 72
An act relating to occupations and professions;
authorizing the commissioner of public safety to
provide administrative support services to the board
of peace officer standards and training; authorizing
certain peace officers to carry pistols; amending
Minnesota Statutes 1982, sections 214.04, subdivision
1; 624.713, subdivision 1; 626.843, subdivision 1;
626.845, subdivision 1; and 626.849.
Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 214.04,
subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1.  The commissioner of administration with
respect to the board of electricity, the commissioner of
education with respect to the board of teaching, the
commissioner of public safety with respect to the board of
private detective and protective agent services, and the board
of peace officer standards and training, and the commissioner of
revenue with respect to the board of assessors, shall provide
suitable offices and other space, joint conference and hearing
facilities, examination rooms, and the following administrative
support services:  purchasing service, accounting service,
advisory personnel services, consulting services relating to
evaluation procedures and techniques, data processing,
duplicating, mailing services, automated printing of license
renewals, and such other similar services of a housekeeping
nature as are generally available to other agencies of state
government.  Investigative services shall be provided the boards
by employees of the office of attorney general.  The
commissioner of health with respect to the health related
licensing boards and the chairman of the commerce commission
with respect to the remaining nonhealth related licensing boards
shall provide the above facilities and services at a central
location for the health related and remaining nonhealth related
licensing boards.  The legal and investigative services for the
boards shall be provided by employees of the attorney general
assigned to the departments servicing the boards.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the attorney general shall not be
precluded by this section from assigning other attorneys to
service a board if necessary in order to insure competent and
consistent legal representation.  Persons providing legal and
investigative services shall to the extent practicable provide
the services on a regular basis to the same board or boards.
Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 624.713,
Subdivision 1.  [INELIGIBLE PERSONS.] The following persons
shall not be entitled to possess a pistol:
(a) A person under the age of 18 years except that a person
under 18 may carry or possess a pistol (i) in the actual
presence or under the direct supervision of his parent or
guardian, (ii) for the purpose of military drill under the
auspices of a legally recognized military organization and under
competent supervision, (iii) for the purpose of instruction,
competition, or target practice on a firing range approved by
the chief of police or county sheriff in whose jurisdiction the
range is located and under direct supervision; or (iv) if the
person has successfully completed a course designed to teach
marksmanship and safety with a pistol and approved by the
commissioner of natural resources;
(b) A person who has been convicted in this state or
elsewhere of a crime of violence unless ten years have elapsed
since the person has been restored his civil rights or the
sentence has expired, whichever occurs first, and during that
time he has not been convicted of any other crime of violence.
For purposes of this section, crime of violence includes crimes
in other states or jurisdictions which would have been crimes of
violence as herein defined if they had been committed in this
state;
(c) A person who is or has ever been confined or committed
in Minnesota or elsewhere as a "mentally ill," "mentally
deficient retarded," or "mentally ill and dangerous to the
public" person as those terms are defined in section 253A.02
253B.02, to a hospital, mental institution or sanitarium
treatment facility, unless he possesses a certificate of a
medical doctor or psychiatrist licensed in Minnesota, or other
satisfactory proof that he is no longer suffering from this
disability;
(d) A person who has been convicted in Minnesota or
elsewhere for the unlawful use, possession, or sale of a
controlled substance other than conviction for possession of a
small amount of marijuana, as defined in section 152.01,
subdivision 16, or a person who is or has ever been hospitalized
or committed for treatment for the habitual use of a controlled
substance or marijuana, as defined in sections 152.01 and
152.02, unless he possesses a certificate of a medical doctor or
psychiatrist licensed in Minnesota, or other satisfactory proof,
that he has not abused a controlled substance or marijuana
during the previous two years; or
(e) A person who has been confined or committed to a
hospital, mental institution or sanitarium treatment facility in
Minnesota or elsewhere as an "inebriate person" "chemically
dependent" as that term is defined in section 253A.02 253B.02,
or for alcoholic problems, unless he possesses a certificate of
a medical doctor or psychiatrist licensed in Minnesota, or other
satisfactory proof, that he has not abused alcohol during the
previous two years; or
(f) A peace officer who is informally admitted to a
treatment facility pursuant to section 253B.04 for chemical
dependency, unless he possesses a certificate from the head of
the treatment facility that he has been discharged or
provisionally discharged from the treatment facility.
A person who issues a certificate pursuant to this
subdivision in good faith shall not be liable for damages in an
action arising out of the issuance.
Subdivision 1.  [RULES REQUIRED.] The board shall adopt
rules with respect to:
(a) The certification of peace officer training schools,
programs, or courses including training schools for the
Minnesota state patrol.  Such schools, programs and courses
shall include those administered by the state, county, school
district, municipality, or joint or contractual combinations
thereof, and shall include preparatory instruction in law
enforcement and minimum basic training courses;
(b) Minimum courses of study, attendance requirements, and
equipment and facilities to be required at each certified peace
officers training school located within the state;
(c) Minimum qualifications for instructors at certified
peace officer training schools located within this state;
(d) Minimum standards of physical, mental and educational
fitness which shall govern the recruitment and licensing of
peace officers within the state, by any state, county,
municipality, or joint or contractual combination thereof,
including members of the Minnesota state patrol;
(e) Minimum standards of conduct which would affect the
performance of the individual in his duties as a peace officer;
These standards shall be established and published on or
before July 1, 1979.
(f) Minimum basic training which peace officers appointed
to temporary or probationary terms shall complete before being
eligible for permanent appointment, and the time within which
such basic training must be completed following any such
appointment to a temporary or probationary term;
(g) Minimum specialized training which part-time peace
officers shall complete in order to be eligible for continued
employment as a part-time peace officer or permanent employment
as a peace officer, and the time within which the specialized
training must be completed;
(h) Content of minimum basic training courses required of
graduates of certified law enforcement training schools or
programs.  Such courses shall not duplicate the content of
certified academic or general background courses completed by a
student but shall concentrate on practical skills deemed
essential for a peace officer.  Successful completion of such a
course shall be deemed satisfaction of the minimum basic
training requirement;
(i) Grading, reporting, attendance and other records, and
certificates of attendance or accomplishment;
(j) The procedures to be followed by a part-time peace
officer for notifying the board of his intention to pursue the
specialized training for part-time peace officers who desire to
become peace officers pursuant to sections 626.843, subdivision
1, clause (g) and 626.845, subdivision 1, clause (g); and
(k) The establishment, and use by any political subdivision
or state law enforcement agency which employs persons licensed
by the board of procedures for investigation and resolution of
allegations of misconduct by persons licensed by the board.  The
procedures shall be in writing and shall be established on or
before October 1, 1984; and
(l) Such other matters as may be necessary consistent with
sections 626.84 to 626.855.  Rules promulgated by the attorney
general with respect to these matters may be continued in force
by resolution of the board if the board finds the rules to be
consistent with sections 626.84 to 626.855.
Subdivision 1.  [POWERS AND DUTIES.] The board shall have
the following powers and duties:
(a) To certify peace officers' training schools or programs
administered by state, county and municipalities located within
this state in whole or in part no later than 90 days after
receipt of an application for certification.  The reasons for
noncertification of any school or program or part thereof shall
be transmitted to the school within 90 days and shall contain a
detailed explanation of the reasons for which the school or
program was disapproved and an explanation of what supporting
material or other requirements are necessary for the board to
reconsider.  Disapproval of a school or program shall not
preclude the reapplication for certification of the school or
program;
(b) To issue certificates to schools, and to revoke such
certification when necessary to maintain the objectives and
purposes of sections 626.841 to 626.855;
(c) To certify, as qualified, instructors at peace officer
training schools, and to issue appropriate certificates to such
instructors;
(d) To license peace officers who have satisfactorily
completed certified basic training programs, and passed
examinations as required by the board;
(e) To cause studies and surveys to be made relating to the
establishment, operation, and approval of state, county, and
municipal peace officer training schools;
(f) To consult and cooperate with state, county, and
municipal peace officer training schools for the development of
in-service training programs for peace officers;
(g) To consult and cooperate with universities, colleges,
and area vocational technical institutes for the development of
specialized courses of instruction and study in the state for
peace officers and part-time peace officers in police science
and police administration;
(h) To consult and cooperate with other departments and
agencies of the state and federal government concerned with
peace officer standards and training;
(i) To perform such other acts as may be necessary and
appropriate to carry out the powers and duties as set forth in
the provisions of sections 626.841 to 626.855;
(j) To coordinate the provision, on a regional basis, of
skills oriented basic training courses to graduates of certified
law enforcement training schools or programs;
(k) To obtain criminal conviction data for persons seeking
a license to be issued or possessing a license issued by the
board.  The board shall have authority to obtain criminal
conviction data to the full extent that any other law
enforcement agency, as that term is defined by state or federal
law, has to obtain the data; and
(l) To prepare and transmit annually to the governor and
the legislature a report of its activities with respect to
allocation of moneys appropriated to it for peace officers
training, including the name and address of each recipient of
money for that purpose, the amount awarded, and the purpose of
the award; and
(m) To assist and cooperate with any political subdivision
by the board to establish written procedures for the
investigation and resolution of allegations of misconduct of
persons licensed by the board, and to enforce licensing
sanctions for failure to implement such procedures.
Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 626.849, is
amended to read:
626.849 [SCHEDULE OF SUBJECT MATERIAL.]
The superintendent of the bureau of criminal apprehension
shall prepare not later than August 1 each year a written
schedule of subject material to be taught in each training
course, the scheduled instructors for each subject and the time
and place for each subject presentation.  This material shall be
presented to the board.  The subject material, instructors and
schedules may be approved or disapproved by a majority vote of
the board before September 1 each year and if disapproved, the
proposal shall be revised and re-presented to the board for
their review in like manner.
Upon request of the board to the bureau of criminal
apprehension, the subject matter of at least one training course
shall include instruction in the development of procedures by a
law enforcement agency to investigate and resolve allegations of
misconduct by persons licensed by the board and employed by a
law enforcement agency.
Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.]
This act is effective the day following final enactment.
Section 2 applies to all releases or discharges occurring
before, on, or after that date.
Approved June 6, 1983


The 2012 IEEE International Conference on RFID, sponsored by the IEEE Technical Committee on RFID (CRFID ), is the premier conference for exchanging all technical RFID-related research. The conference attendance boasts an outstanding mix of practitioners and researchers within industry and academia, from around the world, and spanning numerous disciplines. IEEE RFID 2012 is an opportunity to share timely research results in all areas of RFID technologies and their applications.
The IEEE International Conference on RFID is seeking original, high-impact research papers on important RFID-related topics. Papers will be selected based on clarity, originality, importance of the problem, technical merit, and the potential impact of the results. All papers will be rigorously reviewed through a double-blind review process by multiple active researchers in the field.


text:
The fight for secularism is descending into chaos
Cheering 'encounters' is a dangerous trend
Maharashtra politics transcends the bizarre
Finally, we can put Ayodhya behind us
'Aaya Ram gaya Ram' time in Haryana, again
Women's welfare: We have a long way to go
Nirmala's booster shot could have come earlier
A judicial transfer that's caused a flutter
Sushma and Jaitley will be sorely missed
Article 370 had to go, but dark clouds remain
Rasheeda Bhagat
Of mosques, temples and votes
RASHEEDA BHAGAT | Updated on March 12, 2018 Published on August 05, 2013
Durga Shakti Nagpal…A case of excessive fervour?
Centre free to withdraw IAS officers from UP: Samajwadi Party
Centre in touch with UP Govt on IAS officer suspension issue: PM
SP leader Bhati claims he got IAS officer transferred in 41 minutes
Man who exposed sand mining mafia shot dead in U.P.
In the ping-pong of allegations being made over the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, the ugly face of vote bank politics has once again revealed itself.
In the 2014 battle for India's biggest State, Uttar Pradesh, the first casualty has been a young IAS officer, Durga Shakti Nagpal, suspended by the UP government, ostensibly for demolishing a masjid wall in a UP village. But the serious charge is that the real reason for this unduly harsh punishment to a young IAS officer, without any inquiry giving her a chance to explain, is that she had taken on the mighty sand mafia of the State.
In the ping-pong of allegations and counter allegations being made over the officer's suspension, the ugly face of vote bank politics has once again surfaced. For the SP, this is a timely and excellent way of telling its Muslim supporters that their interests are safe with Mulla Mulayam's Samajwadi Party.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi getting into the fray and urging the Prime Minister to ensure that the officer was not unfairly treated is a clear bid to woo the young, urban middle-class voter who is getting increasingly drawn to Narendra Modi. Remember the recent party meet where she had asked senior Congress leaders to ruminate on why the urban middle classes were getting disenchanted with the party?
The SP, and others too, have hit back asking where her concern for honest and upright officers was when Ashok Khemka was shifted by the Haryana government for questioning her son-in-law Robert Vadra's land deals.
An angry UP government has also slapped a chargesheet on the suspended Durga, asking her to explain why she had "flouted rules" and demolished the makeshift mosque. With the BJP and the Left parties getting into the fray and slamming both the Congress and the SP, it is virtually a free-for-all. The BJP has cleverly used one of its Muslims faces, Shahnawaz Hussain, to criticise the SP for "punishing an honest officer". But the most disgusting comment reportedly came from SP senior leader Azam Khan: Ram naam par loot sako toh loot lo.
Terrible timing
In any story, there are layers and shades of truth. But the two factors that jar in Durga's case are the timing of the demolition and the extremely harsh decision taken by the State administration in suspending her.
Taking the second first, it is well-known that in their initial postings most IAS and IPS officers come with full josh and the determination to make a difference. After taking a few knocks they mellow or "mature" and go in one of two directions; either joining the politicians in looting the exchequer or turning deaf and mute against all injustice and wrongdoing. Only a rare few take on the system, the criminals, the mafia, the politicians, land sharks and such entities and face a plethora of transfers to insignificant posts. Sometimes they do get suspended.
Coming to the demolition, it is clear that the structure built on gram sabha land was illegal and unauthorised. Kadalpur, the village in question, has a population of 5,000, with 80 per cent being Muslim, but that doesn't give anybody the right to encroach on government land. But reports from the ground in local newspapers, including Urdu publications, have quoted the villagers as saying that by consensus the land had been set aside for the mosque.
Panchayat Pradhan Sher Mohammad told the Urdu daily Inquilab that he appealed to the SDM (Durga) not to demolish the mosque as it was the month of Ramzan. "I told her we have built the mosque with great effort and after Ramzan we will get the official papers ready. But she refused to listen and ordered the demolition of the mosque. The policemen first smashed the tarpaulin, threw away the prayer mats, then they broke the water tank which we had bought after collecting donations for 20 days." He added that Hindu villagers too had donated money for this mosque. By force or voluntarily, we don't know.
More than one villager asked if the officer would have dared to touch a temple! Taking that forward, one should ask which IAS officer would dare to demolish an unauthorised temple during a major Hindu festival or a church during the Christmas season. A little experience or counselling by a senior, in this case the District Magistrate, would have cautioned Durga to consider Muslim sensibilities during Ramzan and wait a couple of weeks to act.
Temple demolition
It is not as though illegal temples have not been demolished in India, but sometimes heritage and local sensitivities have to be considered. Nearer home, in Chennai, I remember vividly the drama that took place around 2003-04 when the East Coast Road, from Chennai to Puducherry, was being widened. There was a Valmiki temple bang in the centre of the planned expansion. Legend has it that poet Valmiki, after writing the Ramayana, had rested here while heading south along the coast, and hence the area got the name Valmiki Nagar.
The temple was tiny and looked more like a mandapam, but was at least 1,300 years old, reported The Hindu. Despite court orders, the temple could not be demolished to facilitate the road expansion. The final call to leave it alone was taken after even Muslim workers refused to raze it to the ground! Finally the road weaved its way around the temple, and heavens did not fall!
Bureaucrats deal with the tricky business of unauthorised structures with more tact than zeal that the young and inexperienced Durga showed. About three decades ago, in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu, a scheduled caste colony sprang up over a 3-acre area meant for a bus terminus. Many collectors were petrified of evicting SC encroachers, till a smart young man came to the post. Using tact, he drew up a road map for clearing all encroachments from the area, and after demolishing some other structures, this colony too was cleared and he didn't end up getting an anti-SC tag!
Talking of encroachments, there is this unauthorised temple bang outside my house in Chennai. Around 2003, when the slum dwellers — a vote bank that has been allowed to encroach on temple land in a prime city area — were putting it up, I called the Chennai Corporation for help. They came promptly early morning and demolished the makeshift temple. After that, I backed my car and left for office with my defiant son daring the gathered mob to attack me as threatened.
A few years ago the local slumlord put it up again, literally overnight, to honour his mother-in-law who is periodically "possessed" by the goddess to whom this temple is dedicated. Her son, when not in an inebriated condition, performs puja and collects money from passers-by. But that is small change compared with the collection during the annual festival when the entire road is closed for two days and our senses assaulted by deafening music.
This time, thanks to either maturity or a weaker spine, I did not complain. Now I am in search of a knight in shining armour and a strong spine, of the Durga variety, to take down this encroachment.
rasheeda.bhagat@thehindu.co.in
civil and public service
alliances and coalition
Rasheeda Bhagat is an Editorial Consultant with Business Line and writes on politics, interesting people, gender, conflict, social and human interest/rights issues, travel and lifestyle.
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Bruce Springsteen already spoke out about President Donald Trump in concert, but now the rocker is taking it a step further.
Grushecky, who's teamed up with Springsteen over the years, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he wrote the song in January, right around the time Trump entered the White House.
"I had this song, and Bruce and I had been talking. I sent it to him and he liked it. I said, 'What do you think about singing on it?' He gave it the Bruce treatment," he said.
"That's What Makes Us Great" is available on Grushecky's website.


"FAKE - F# Make" is completely written in F# and all build scripts will also be written in F#, but this doesn't imply that you have to learn programming in F#. In fact the "FAKE - F# Make" syntax is hopefully very easy to learn.
trace "Hello World from FAKE"
As you can see the code is really simple. The first line includes the FAKE library and is vital for all FAKE build scripts.
After this header the Default target is defined. A target definition contains two important parts. The first is the name of the target (here "Default") and the second is an action (here a simple trace of "Hello world").
The last line runs the "Default" target - which means it executes the defined action of the target.
We introduced some new concepts in this snippet. At first we defined a global property called "buildDir" with the relative path of a temporary build folder.
In the Clean target we use the CleanDir task to clean up this build directory. This simply deletes all files in the folder or creates the directory if necessary.
We defined a new build target named "BuildApp" which compiles all csproj-files with the MSBuild task and the build output will be copied to buildDir.
In order to find the right project files FAKE scans the folder src/app/ and all subfolders with the given pattern. Therefore a similar FileSet definition like in NAnt or MSBuild (see project page for details) is used.
In addition the target dependencies are extended again. Now Default is dependent on BuildApp and BuildApp needs Clean as a prerequisite.
This means the execution order is: Clean ==> BuildApp ==> Default.
This time we defined a new target "BuildTest" which compiles all C# projects below src/test/ in Debug mode and we put the target into our build order.
With this simple command FAKE will use nuget.exe to install all the package dependencies.
This will fetch nuget.exe from nuget.org and also download an early version of NUnit that contains the NUnit runner. The edit to paket.dependencies does not replace the RestorePackages() step. The NUnit.Test.CalculatorLib test project references the NUnit version 2.6.2 library, so we need that version too.
Our new Test target scans the test directory for test assemblies and runs them with the NUnit runner. FAKE automatically tries to locate the runner in one of your subfolders. See the NUnit task documentation if you need to specify the tool path explicitly.
The mysterious part (fun p -> ...) simply overrides the default parameters of the NUnit task and allows to specify concrete parameters.
The new Deploy target scans the build directory for all files. The result will be zipped to /deploy/Calculator.zip via the Zip task.
If you want you could now add a FxCop target to your build in order to check specific naming rules or framework guidelines.


text:
Katatonia Premiere Track from New Album 'The Fall of Hearts'
Written by Staff
Katatonia have released the first full track titled, Old Heart Falls, from their highly anticipated new album, The Fall of Hearts. It's due for release on 20 May 2016 through Peaceville Records/Rocket Distribution.
On the release of the first new song Jonas Renkse comments: "A song with lush textures, distinct dynamics and a memorable chorus are the trademarks to some of the most beloved Katatonia songs.
Old Heart Falls, substantiates all of those attributes, but is not by any means defining the album as a whole. There is more to come…"
The Fall of Hearts, is the first record to feature new drummer Daniel 'Mojjo' Moilanen and with the addition of their recently recruited guitarist Roger Öjersson (Tiamat), who came in just in time to sprinkle some blistering solos on the album, Katatonia will continue to push their musical boundaries beyond their roots in the metal scene while drawing in new fans from across the musical spectrum like peers such as Opeth and Anathema have also done, cementing Katatonia's place as one of the most revered and cherished of all bands in the world of modern HEAVY music.
The Fall Of Hearts, will be released on the following formats: Deluxe 12" hard book, 2 Disc CD & DVD Media book, CD, 2LP, Digital download with new song, Old Heart Falls, available as instant download from Friday 1st April.
The Fall of Hearts will be released on 20 May 2016 via Peaceville Records/Rocket Distribution.
Formats are now available to pre-order:
Physical: www.nervegas.com.au/katatonia
Digital: http://smarturl.it/KAT_TFOH_DIGITAL
Band Photo By: Ester Segarra
Discover more like this on HEAVY:
# Katatonia, News
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