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MMFF revamps executives, will accept only finished film entries
With a new mission and vision, new rules, new selection criteria and new composition of its Executive
Committee, the Metro Manila Film Festival is expected to have a new look starting this year.
This was announced by Metro Manila Development Authority and MMFF chairman Atty. Emerson Carlos during a news conference Thursday at the MMFF Auditorium in Makati City.
"The MMFF has heard the clamor and appeal for change within the festival…With a new Festival year and a new set of members of the Executive Committee, the MMFF is committed to revisiting its policies, rules and regulations, and setting a more inclusive goal of uniting the Filipino film industry and making MMFF the festival of the people once again," Carlos said in his opening speech.
There has always been a clamor for change in the MMFF particularly in its selection of entries that guaranteed slots for blockbuster franchises and films with bankable stars but left little room for entries with high artistic values.
But it wasn't until the controversy that saw the disqualification of Erik Matti's critically acclaimed "Honor Thy Father" from the festival's Best Picture category that led to the MMFF's recent decision to undergo a major facelift.
During the news conference, Carlos introduced the festival's 2016 Executive Committee members composed of himself, Police Senior Superintendent Rhoderick Armamento, film academician Edward Cabagnot, producer Jesse Ejercito, Film Development Council of the Philippines executive director Teodoro Granados, writer and producer Moira Lang, Bryan Ian Montaces representing Senator Sonny Angara, and Metro Manila Theaters Association Vice President Marcus Ng.
Also in the Executive Committee are Mowelfund president Boots Anson-Rodrigo, Bureau of Broadcast Services' Jun Romana, SM Lifestyle Entertainment president Edgar Tejerero, Motion Picture Distributors Association of the Philippines president Wilson Tieng, Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas, and Movie and Television Review Classification Board Atty. Eugenio Villareal.
No longer part of the new ExeCom are former board members Senator Grace Poe, Christina Caparas, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Dominic Du, Rowena Capulong-Reyes, Marichu Maceda, Jag Garcia and director Mark Meily.
During a congressional hearing on the MMFF controversy involving "Honor Thy Father" last January, MTRCB board member Carmen "Keats" Musngi and Paul Resureccion, members of the 2015 MMFF board of jurors identified Du and Maceda as the ExeCom members who allegedly told the jurors that "Honor Thy Father" was disqualified from the Best Picture award as early as December 21 or days before the decision became public.
In addition to the ExeCom's revamp, the MMFF also announced new vision and mission statements that place emphasis on "artistic excellence," "audience development," "quality Filipino films," and "sustainability of the Philippine film industry."
To this end, Carlos and board members Edward Cabagnot, Moira Lang and MTRCB Chairman Atty. Eugenio Villareal also bared the revised criteria for the selection of finalists which consist of Story, Audience Appeal and Overall Impact (40 percent), Cinematic Attributes/Technical Excellence (40 percent), Global Appeal (10 percent) and Filipino Sensibility (10 percent).
Asked how these criteria will affect the commercial viability of the festival which had set box office records in recent years, Carlos, Lang and Cabagnot took turns in emphasizing that while they are "blazing a trail for the film industry" with the changes that are taking effect this year, they are not forgetting the commercial aspects that made the MMFF a much anticipated source of entertainment every Yuletide season.
A major rule change that the ExeCom is introducing is that starting this year, only films that are completed and fully shot are going to be considered as entries. Carlos said that these finished films must not be shown publicly or in any film festival prior to their submission to the MMFF.
The MMFF chairman added that the rule, as deliberated by the committee is final and absolute. The ExeCom will no longer allow further edits or revisions to a finished film submitted once it is selected for the festival.
Carlos said the MMFF has also decided to do away with the New Wave section devoted to independent films to "remove any distinction between indies and mainstream films." The pre-MMFF New Wave section was pioneered by former MMDA and MMFF chairman Francis Tolentino who is currently seeking a senatorial seat.
As for the number of entries that will be selected for this year's festival, Carlos said it will remain at eight. Deadline for the submission of finished films is on September 28 while announcement of finalists is scheduled on October 11. (E. Sallan, Interaksyon)
iRemit Promo
Mother Lily comments on new MMFF rules


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Homegrown Stories: The Resilience of LaPier's Country Flowers & Gifts
Celebrate, Family, Florist Spotlight, Homegrown Stories, Trends
Celebrate, Featured, Inspire
Just months after beginning to moonlight as a delivery driver, Marianne LaPier-Gignac could tell the little Corunna, Ontario, florist shop was in trouble. But she could see potential. Just a month after talking it over with her mom, things were already in motion: the shop's name changed to LaPier's Country Flowers & Gifts, and Marianne headed off to floral school at Flowers Canada—jumpstarting a surprising career that is now nearly 30 years in the making.
But much has changed in the time since. Back then, dollar stores hadn't really taken hold, and grocery stores hadn't yet started carrying wrapped cuts. "As those two industries expanded, we had to reinvent the merchandise that we offered," says Marianne. "Customers could buy cheap decor items and seasonal decor that could be used once and thrown away. They were no longer looking for decor that had quality, for years of use, just one-off lower-quality items that the dollar store could offer."
To adapt, the LaPiers tapped into a growing trend: full-service weddings. Noticing that full-service decorators in high demand, they bought a small decorating business, which grew from servicing one wedding that first year to more than 60 in those that followed.
Having worked on so many big days, Marianne couldn't help but have some predilections. She loves the "open and airy, garden-picked look of hand-tied bouquets" but dislikes all baby's breath bouquets: "Common for bridesmaids. So boring, but very popular."
Not all love, however, lasts forever: The steady rise of easy access to DIY wedding tutorials online meant the honeymoon phase of the new market is over. "Clients think they can save money, but in the end they don't and make way more work for themselves for little benefit," says Marianne. "We try to educate that this is not actually cost effective in many cases and the outcome is not always ideal."
The shop has even evolved to make space for children. For one special week each summer, a dozen kids get all kinds of busy with Summer Craft Camp: floral arranging of course, but also scrapbooking, cake decorating, making steampunk art and dreamcatchers, sewing, designing T-shirts, and making tie dye flowers, to name a few.
But despite all the changes over the years, Marianne and her mother still cherish what got them started. Recently, a father and his three children came to make floral arrangements for the funeral service of his wife, who had Alzheimer's. They told Marianne about her favorite flowers, and the comfort she felt when she had her TV remote in one hand, and a folded tissue in another. She spent the last few years of her life in an assisted-living facility but couldn't manage the remote there. So she carried her old one, without batteries, because it gave her peace and, perhaps, a sense of control. The family laughed and cried with Marianne, who suggested that they incorporate those memories into the flowers. "We had her remote and a folded tissue, and slid her wedding band over the tissue," she said. "These people, in their time of grief, shared something special with a stranger, and I was able to make their last memories of her come to life for just a few moments. What an honor, what a job I have. What a gift from God to be a florist."
Homegrown Stories: Pittsburgh's Historic Oliver Flower Shop
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About Mercury Messenger
The Mercury Messenger is the official blog dedicated to delighting and inspiring FTD Member Florists, the backbone of FTD. For more than 100 years, the FTD florist network has stood for quality, creativity and worldwide floral delivery. This blog celebrates the artisan florist and shares valuable information to help further their education and grow their local business.
Celebrate Featured Grow Innovate Inspire Trends

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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« Eddi Reader 'Vagabond' Now Out!!
Paper Aeroplanes : Joy »
Paper Aeroplanes specialise in an intoxicating brand of Alt folk. Singer Sarah Howells has one of those voices that is impossible to ignore, a soaring yet fragile instrument of the finest kind; and their heartfelt lyrics and gorgeous melodies are guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye and sooth your troubled soul. The 2013 album Little Letters (Navigator Records) was released to a barrage of acclaim from critics and fans alike, and saw the Welsh band embark on an epic series of dates across Europe, selling out many iconic venues including London's Union Chapel, Hamburg's Prinzenbar and Whelan's in Dublin.
Our music is about human connection, says Sarah Howells of Paper Aeroplanes. Not surprisingly the story of Paper Aeroplanes is as heartwarming and poignant as one of their songs. Vocalist Howells suffered a great personal loss, leading to her meeting guitarist Richard Llewellyn and their subsequent realisation that they were meant to make music together.
Sarah grew up in Milford Haven, a small industrial town in Pembrokeshire, and Richard hails from Tresaith, a picturesque coastal village on Cardigan Bay. At the age of 13, Sarah began composing songs, realising quickly that music was the career path she would take. Later in her teens, her band, Jylt, were on the verge of national success when bass player and best friend, Nia George was diagnosed with leukaemia, from which she tragically passed away at just 21.
Following a period of soul searching, Sarah felt compelled to continue writing and singing. She joined forces with Richard, who she had met through a mutual, musical friend. In 2006, they formed Halflight, quickly catching the attention of the Welsh gig-going public and media. Radio Wales have been supporters ever since helping cement the duo's ever-increasing reputation in their home country.
Following a subtle rebrand and name change in 2009, Paper Aeroplanes began to spread their wings (never ignore the obvious puns), playing hundreds of shows across the UK and Europe; receiving radio play from the likes of Steve Lamacq, Dermot O'Leary, Cerys Matthews, Tom Robinson, Lauren Laverne and Bob Harris; and having their music used on national TV (BBC drama Lip Service, Sky Sports Champions League final, Irish No Smoking campaign etc).
PA have spent much of the last year writing and recording in Cardiff with the help of producer Mason Neely (Cerys Matthews, Sufjan Stevens, Lambchop, Colorama). Guessing Game, the first single from the new batch of songs, added more rhythmic and electronic elements to the band's trademark acoustic sound, bringing to mind the likes of Lykke Li, Florence and Feist. The new album continues this theme – a varied and thrilling collection of songs to augment their already stunning live set.
Paper Aeroplanes : Joy
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180g Gatefold LP & Download code.
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180g Single LP with download code
1 Good Love Lives On
2 Guessing Game
4 Race You Home
5 Emily
6 Caravan
7 Sail
8 Joy
9 Call Off The Dawn
10 Placebos
11 Goldrush Album


Does Your Company Have A Good 401(k)?
A recent study done by The Pew Charitable Trust found that 35 percent of private sector workers over the age of 22 don't work for a company that offers a 401(k) plan. What's scary is that the 65% that do have a retirement plan offered through the workplace today, still don't even understand how the plans work and how to maximize the plan for their personal benefit. Terms including matching, profit sharing, vesting, Roth 401(k), target funds, and many more can be overwhelming. In a recent sample I did with my own clients, 10 out of 10 people did not know what a summary plan description was or where to find it on their company intranet.
Matching– A good 401(k) plan will offer some type of matching for employees. Some employers don't add a matching program because they think it will cost too much money, but in reality, it adds more than 15% retention of employees. Without a matching program, there is significant legal regulatory testing in order to keep balance between the highly compensated employees and the non-highly compensated employees on how much they can contribute to their 401(k). A good barometer for a matching program that is of high quality is called a 'safe-harbor' plan. This means you'll get matched $1 for $1 on the first 3% you put in your plan and then you'll get matched .50 cents for $1 on the next 2% you put in your plan. Effectively, if you put away five percent then your employer will put away four percent. Any match higher than this is something really special in today's competitive benefits environment.
Automatic Enrollment– This is an important newer type of feature on a 401(k). Most of us cannot save on our own, so having a plan that opts you into the plan versus you having to opt into the plan is of paramount importance. You also want a plan that will have automatic increases (i.e. increases your savings 1% per year) because this will force you to put away more as your income goes up. We tend to not miss what we don't see in our paychecks and money in our checking account tends to burn a hole in our pocket.
Roth 401(k)- A good plan today will offer the traditional pre-tax option for your 401(k) savings but having a Roth 401(k) makes your plan better for all employees. Unlike the current Roth IRA cap of $5,500 ($6,500 for those 50 and older), the Roth 401(k) allows you to put away up to $18,500 ($24,500 for those 50 and older) on an after-tax basis and then never be taxed again. An especially good 401(k) plan will allow for you to mix your contributions of pre-tax and Roth split up at whatever level is best for your personal short-term and long-term tax management plan.
Automatic Rebalancing- The challenge with most of us is consistently managing our 401(k)'s. Most people set up an initial allocation of funds, and those who do not regularly meet with their financial advisor hardly ever change their 401(k) allocations. This means over time your 401(k) has what is called to be 'drift'. If you initially set up 20% in international stock, after five years that percentage of your allocation could end up being 17%. This means that one of your categories are currently overweighed this category may be underweighted. This is an easier way of saying you need to sell high and buy low. An automatic rebalancing feature in the 401(k) will allow you to simply click a button and get your current 401(k) mix back to the original allocation.
Fund Fees less than .50%- Unfortunately, a lot of small employers shift the cost of the 401(k) to the employees versus them paying for the cost themselves. Although rules and regulations had changed where you should have a clear transparency to your 401(k) costs, it is still very difficult to navigate the fees you are being charged in your 401(k). You should review your 401(k) and make sure the internal costs of the funds are lower than .50%. If they are more than that on average, you should be talking to your employer on how just an additional .50% cost to you could affect your overall retirement. The 401(k) is supposed to be set up to help you retire in place of pensions that used to exist, so high cost funds will no help those matters.
Diversified Fund Choices- This is a tricky topic, but you should make sure you have investment choices that allow you to place your money amongst the spectrum of low risk and high-risk investments. For starters, all 401(k) plans should have target date or retirement date funds. This is the "I don't want to manage" my 401(k) choice. Beyond that you should have basic choices from stable value funds, bond funds, and equity funds. It is important to ask your employer for specialty funds (which shouldn't cost them more money) such as real estate investment trusts, technology funds, healthcare funds, and other choices that will give you some more throttle on your 401(k).


There are more than 39,000 different rice varieties world over. Most of the world's rice is consumed in the area in which it is grown. Only around 6% is traded internationally. However, about 10% are grown commercially. Asian farmers produce about 90% of the total. World rice production in 2007 was approximately 645 million tonnes with over 114 countries growing rice.
Nearly half the world's 7.4 billion population eat rice as part of their staple diet and demand is expected to grow by 50 per cent by 2030. The average person in some parts of Asia eats 40-60kg each year.
BASMATI FACTS: The name basmati means sweet smell. This rice has special features, which make it's naturally long grain fragrant and delicious in taste.
Basmati is considered as the "prince of fragrance" or "the perfumed one" due to its unique aroma and delicately nutty taste. Basmati has been revered for centuries, including by Moghul Emperors. People in Europe, America and the Middle East (in particular Saudi Arabia and Iran), are consuming more Basmati than ever before. Demand for Basmati in Europe is increasing. Many British consumers use it as a vital cooking ingredient. It is the dominant rice product in the UK, accounting for nearly half of the rice consumed.
PAKISTANI RICE: Pakistan is the producer of the world's finest long grain aromatic basmati rice.
Basmati, the king of rice, is held in the highest regard world over. Among all the other varieties of rice, none have the distinctive long grains or the subtle aroma for which this grain is considered so special. This also justifies the premium this rice commands against all other rice of the world.
It takes birth in the most fertile valleys and plains of Pakistan. It is harvested by hand with delicate care, aged to perfection and then processed. The result is an extra long, pearly white, delicate grain with an irresistible aroma and delectable taste bringing alive an age of nawabs and emperors, glittering courts and legendary chefs.
The legend says that basmati rice was meant to be consumed by maharajas (kings), maharanis (queens), princes and royal families. This unique rice is just one crop a year grown only in Pakistan and northern India, the region known as old Punjab – the land of five rivers originating from Himalayas.
On the basis of aroma or fragrance we can divide the rice into two major Kinds.
In basmati rice, there are many rice varieties are introduced in the market from time to time but the following are main exportable basmati varieties of Pakistan.
In non-basmati rice, there are many rice varieties are introduced in the market from time to time but the following are main exportable non-basmati varieties of Pakistan.
Each rice has converted into four forms as per it's demand and requirements. From the paddy, you can prepare the below form of rice.


This is probably the most-frequently-asked keyboard question for Windows 7: How to use the keyboard to shutdown or restart.
Press the Windows key. The Start menu appears.
Press the Right Arrow key. The focus is now on the Shutdown button.
The default action is to Shutdown. If you want to do that, you can just press Space and your system will begin shutting down immediately.
If you want to restart, just press the Right Arrow again. The Shutdown menu appears. To Restart, press R. To choose any other action, press the underlined letter.
Most of the system may not support the upgraded version of the Windows-based system due to some specific restrictions. To resolve these issues may contact with an iTunes error 3194 that will guide them to overcome these situations.


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Posts Tagged 'Steve Howell'
Left-Labour Conference in London in December
I also got this email from the Arise Festival of left Labour ideas notifying me that they're organising a physical conference in London this December. Unfortunately I won't be able to go to it, but I'm putting details of it up here for any Labour members who'd like to go. The email runs
'CONFERENCE: Solidarity 🌹 Struggle 🌹 Socialism
In person. Sat, 10 December, 10:00 – 16:30. Conway Hall, Central London.
Get tickets here // share & invite here // Retweet here & spread the word.
A national conference bringing together the Left & anti-Tory resistance movements in unity to discuss next steps in the fightback.
With: John McDonnell MP // Sarah Woolley, BFAWU General Secretary // Richard Burgon MP // Mick Whelan, ASLEF GS // Nadia Whittome MP // Zita Holbourne, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) // Lord John Hendy QC // Hilary Schan, Momentum // Ben Chacko, Morning Star // Sabby Dhalu, Stand up to Racism // Heidi Chow, Debt Justice // Mick Burke, Socialist Economic Bulletin // Rachel Garnham, CLPD // Ruth Hayes, Labour Women Leading // Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook // Sakina Sheikh AM // Steve Howell, author, Game Changer // Holly Turner, NHS Workers Say No // Jon Trickett MP // Laura Smith // Barry Gardiner MP & many more.
Themes, sessions & international guests tba – put the date in your diary today!
Hosted by Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas.'
Tags:ASLEF, Barry Gardiner, Ben Chacko, BFAWU, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, Debt Justice, Game Changer, Heidi Chose, Hilary Schan, Holly Turner, John Hendy, John McDonnell, Labour Outlook, Labour Women Leading, Laura Smith, London, Matt Willgress, Mick Burke, Mick Whelan, Momentum, Morning Star, Nadia Whittome, NHS Workers Say No, Non Trickett, Rachel Garnham, Richard Burgon, Ruth Hayes, Sabby Dhalu, Sakina Sheikh, Sarah Woolley, Socialist Economic Bulletin, Stand Up To Racism, Steve Howell, Zita Holbourne
Posted in communism, Economics, Health Service, LIterature, Persecution, Politics, Socialism, Trade Unions | Leave a Comment »
Arise Festival Online Events against Blair and NHS Privatisation
I got an email today from the Arise Festival of Labour Left Ideas about a number of forthcoming online events. Two were about Latin America and Cuba, but the two that really interested me were against Blair's knighthood and NHS Privatisation.
The brief notices about these events ran:
"1) FORUM: No to Blair's Knighthood – No Return to Blairism
Thursday 10 February, 18:30. Register here // Share & invite here // Retweet here to spread the word.
With: Steve Howell (Deputy Director, Strategy & Communications for Jeremy Corbyn in 2017) , Rachel Garnham (Campaign for Labour Party Democracy) & Sami Ramidani (Iraqi anti-war campaigner.)
Tony Blair's knighthood has provoked a massive backlash – come & find out more about Blairism – & what it represents & means today. With plenty of time for questions & discussion.
Hosted by Labour Outlook. Kindly streamed by Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas."
"2) DIARY DATE: Ending NHS Privatisation – For a National Care Service.
Monday, 21 February 2022, 7pm Register here
The Second of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs online policy seminars being organised throughout 2022 – in partnership with the Labour Assembly Against Austerity and Momentum – looking at the key policies we need to be raising and how we build the movements to win these policies."
I haven't registered for them yet, but I think I probably will as I strongly support both these causes. Blair took us to war against Iraq on a lie, a lie intended to justify the plundering of Iraq's oil and state industries for the benefit of the American and Saudi oil conglomerates and American multinationals. There's footage of Gorgeous George Galloway angrily telling one of the New Labour women who cheered and organised the Labour benches for this war that she's responsible for the deaths of a million people in Iraq. I've got mixed feeling about the Glesgae bruiser. Sometimes he says things that are absolutely brilliant, at other times he acts like a self-centred publicity seeker. This time I think he was spot-on. Innocent people died, including our best and bravest in the armed forces, not to defend our great nation from a real threat to be get the already bloated rich even richer and more bloated. It destroyed what was, by middle eastern standards at least, a relatively secular welfare state. A society where women could safely pursue careers outside the home. It created a monstrous society instead where Sunni and Shia Muslims had to be separated in Baghdad by peace walls, as in Northern Ireland. There were sectarian deaths squads running amok with the connivance of the American proconsuls running country, and the mercenaries brought in as peacekeepers ran drugs and prostitution rings. Oh yes,, and they killed ordinary Iraqis for sport. The situation was so dire that one American diplomat went home and gave public interviews denouncing the occupation.
A million or two severely normal Brits marched against the invasion. I think it was the biggest mass protest ever. One of those was one of my parish priests at the time. The satirists Bremner, Bird and Fortune attacked the warmongering prior to the invasion. The Tories opposed it, which was a first. I suspect this was simple opportunism, but in some cases it was genuine. The right-wing journalist, Peter Hitchens, continued to attack Blair for wasting the lives of British servicemen and women. A friend of mine even read the Spectator for a time because of its anti-invasion stance.
And Blair ignored it all. The result was a wrecked country, which allowed the expansion of Iranian influence there and, with the rest of the Neo-Con policy in the Middle East, created the conditions for the emergence and expansion of Daesh and their campaign against civilisation.
Millions of people have either died or been forced to flee their homes, contributing to the migrant crisis. The economy was destroyed, people thrown out of work, women forced back into their traditional role and businesses destroyed. But Starmer wants to bring Blairism back, telling everyone that it's going to be a vote winner.
It ain't. Blair's popularity at the time declined and its suffered even worse in the intervening years as more people have woken up to how harmful so many of his policies were. Not just in Iraq, but on the economy, industry and the NHS. Because Blair shared the Tory desire to privatise the health service.
If this country is ever to have a government that genuinely respects and cares for ordinary people, and which pursues a sane, just, humane policy in the Middle East, it's only going to be through genuine socialist values and the vision of Jeremy Corbyn.
The Tories must go, and Blairism must be consigned to the dustbin.
Tags:Ambassadors, Arise Festival, Armed Forces, Baghdad, Bremner Bird and Fortune, Businesses, Christianity, Conservatives, Deaths, Drugs, George Galloway, ISIS, Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer, Labour Party, Mercenaries, Middle East, Multinationals, Neo-Cons, New Labour, NHS, NHS Privatisation, Oil Industry, Peter Hitchens, Prostituion, Protests, Rachel Granham, Rami Ramadani, Refugees, Sectarianism, Shia, Socialist Campaign Group, Steve Howell, Sunnis, the Rich, The Spectator (magazine), tony blair, War, Welfare State, Women
Posted in America, Central America, Comedy, Crime, Cuba, Democracy, Economics, Health Service, Industry, Iraq, Islam, Mauritius, OIl, Persecution, Politics, Saudi Arabia, Socialism, South America, Television, Terrorism, The Press, Unemployment, Welfare Benefits | Leave a Comment »
Scab Starmer Refuses to Fill Employment Rights Shadow Post
This is very telling. Mike's put up a piece this morning reporting that Keef Stalin has effectively abolished the post of Secretary of State for Employment Rights. The post was created in 2018 by Jeremy Corbyn, who appointed Laura Pidcock to it. Andy McDonald has been removed from it and so the post is now vacant. The peeps on Twitter weren't slow to condemn the move and point out what it means. Damian Willey tweeted
Starmer hasn't filled the vacant position of Shadow Minister for employment rights. The 'party of the workers' doesn't represent workers rights on its own frontbench anymore. Perhaps he'll appoint a shadow minister for donors, its what Keith prefers.
Which is fair comment – Stalin is ignoring ordinary, subscription-paying Labour members in order to appeal to the corporate donors he hopes will welcome the return of a New Labour government. And Steve Howell commented
It sums up Starmer's politics that he's cancelled the post of shadow secretary of state for employment rights. Presumably, it's not needed because 'when business profits, we all do'.
Actually, I think it's significant that Starmer hasn't abolished the post. It's just kept vacant and ignored. My guess is that if someone actually raises it, he'll try and justify himself by saying that no, it hasn't been abolished, they're just looking for the right person to fill, or some nonsense like that.
With the position now vacant, Mike asks what the Labour party now stands for. Good question. The party was founded as a federation of trade unions and socialist societies to fight for trade union rights and decent pay and conditions for working people. During the last four decades of Thatcherism, these have been decimated, including by Starmer's molten idol, Tony Blair. Workers don't need less rights – not when so many are caught and exploited in the gig economy with zero hours contracts and so on. But Starmer is clearly trying to appeal to that party of the Tory electorate that blames the unions and bureaucracy for stifling business and demands workers rights are cut even more in order to free business. Brown had the same attitude. He believed the labour market should be more fluid – by which he meant that business should be more able to hire and fire people. Well, we've had four decades of this assault on workers' rights, and all it's created is a cowed, poor, starving workforce, many of whom have to use food banks to support themselves because their pay is so rubbish.
These are the policies Starmer supports. He's a Tory through and through, trying to transform Labour into another Tory party.
I've also written the following books, which are available from Lulu.
The Global Campaign, Volume 1
Available at The Global Campaign Volume 1 (lulu.com)
The Global Campaign Volume 2
Available at Global Campaign Vol 2 (lulu.com)
For a Worker's Chamber
Available at For A Worker's Chamber (lulu.com)
Privatisation: Killing the NHS
Available at Privatisation: Killing the NHS (lulu.com)
Crimes of Empire
Available at Crimes of Empire (lulu.com)
Tags:Andy McDonald, Business, Conservatives, Corporate Donors, Damian Willey, Food Banks, Gordon Brown, Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer, Labour Party, Laura Pidcock, Steve Howell, tony blair, Twitter, Vox Political, Workers' Rights, Zero Hours Contracts
Posted in Charity, Industry, Politics, Poverty, Socialism, Trade Unions, Wages, Working Conditions | 1 Comment »


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Temporary Arundel Mills casino to be on ground floor of garage
By: Nicholas Sohr	Daily Record Business Writer	December 13, 2010
Joe Weinberg, president of the Cordish Cos. unveils plans for the casino at Arundel Mills to the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission
ANNAPOLIS — The state's largest casino would open on the ground floor of a parking garage one year from now, according to plans unveiled Monday by a Baltimore developer.
The Cordish Cos. would open the first phase of its casino beside the Arundel Mills shopping mall in the final quarter of 2011, followed by the full entertainment complex about a year later, company President Joe Weinberg told the state slots commission.
"It will be a fully built-out casino facility," Weinberg said of the first phase of the project. "It will have the feel of a built-out facility."
Cordish plans to build the parking garage first after breaking ground on the project early next year. Some 2,000 slot machines and a bar with a limited menu would be temporarily housed on the ground floor while the rest of the $320 million Maryland Live! Casino is under construction.
When completed in late 2012, the casino will include 4,750 slot machines and a host of national and local entertainment and dining venues, including a restaurant by celebrity chef Bobby Flay and a Rams Head concert facility. The temporary casino space would then be used for parking.
Donald C. Fry, chairman of the state Video Lottery Facility Location Commission, said after Weinberg's presentation that his panel would not have to take any action on the plan, but added the early opening of the temporary casino space is "a move in the right direction
"Under the circumstances, this moves the project further along," Fry said. "It's also created in such a way that makes phase two much quicker."
Cordish's casino is expected to generate more than $400 million in state taxes every year, and $30 million for the county.
Even with the large number of terminals — the next largest would be a Baltimore casino with up to 3,750 machines — the slots at Maryland Live! are expected to be among the busiest in the state, averaging $315 each in daily revenue.
Weinberg said the transition from the temporary casino in the garage would take "no longer than a week," during which the first wave of 2,000 machines would be shut down and transferred to the permanent gaming floor.
The casino's central computer system would be located in the basement of the garage, allowing the company to make a "seamless" transition between gaming areas, Weinberg said.
Construction of the entire project is expected to take 18 or 19 months. It would be the state's third casino, trailing smaller slots parlors in Cecil and Worcester counties.
The state's other licensed casino locations still remain in limbo.
Fry said the commission would meet with Western Maryland lawmakers to discuss changes that could be made to the Rocky Gap gaming license. That license failed to draw bids in 2009 and again in the fall, even after the legislature sweetened the pot for potential developers.
And the gaming license for downtown Baltimore remains stalled due to an ongoing legal battle. The State Board of Contract Appeals ruled last week Fry's commission was right in throwing out a bid by Baltimore City Entertainment Group, but BCEG has appealed the decision. Attorneys for the commission don't expect the case to be heard by the Baltimore City Circuit Court until late May or early June.
Fry, however, said the commission would explore opening the license up to new bidders before the court date.
"We have to make a value judgment on what effect that litigation may have on people who are interested in bidding," he said.
The track-side casino at the Ocean Downs harness racing track is scheduled for an invitation-only, state-monitored test drive Dec. 29 and would open to the public on Jan. 4. It will have 750 slot machines, and could add 50 more under its gaming license.
Hollywood Casino Perryville was the state's first. It opened Sept. 27 with 1,500 slot machines.
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From an Irish surname which was derived from Ó Riain meaning "descendant of Rían". The given name Rían probably means "little king" (from Irish rí "king" combined with a diminutive suffix).
Im A Ryan Whats Your Superpower?


text:
Josiah Bartlett is Born
Today in Masonic History Josiah Bartlett is born in 1729.
Josiah Bartlett was an American physician, politician and jurist. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
By the age of 17 Bartlett had learned some Latin and Greek. He had also begun training in medicine under a local doctor.
In 1751, at the age of 21 Bartlett moved to Kingston, New Hampshire. There he would setup his first medical practice. Kingston at the time was a settlement town with only a few hundred families living there.
In 1767 Bartlett, then married with 7 of his 12 children already born, began his political career. First being elected to the colonial assembly. He became a colonel in the county militia.
At this point Bartlett would be appointed to justice of the piece of Governor John Wentworth. Wentworth would regret Bartlett's appointment as the Revolutionary War drew closer. Bartlett's Whig policies brought the two men into direct conflict.
In 1774 Bartlett became part of the colonial assembly's Committee of Correspondence. This marked the beginning of Bartlett's work with revolutionary leaders of the other 12 colonies. That same year Wentworth dismissed the colonial assembly and Josiah was elected to is revolutionary successor the Provincial Assembly. The Provincial Assembly was an illegal assembly.
Also in 1774 Bartlett lost his home due to a fire, although there was no direct proof, it was believed that opposition Tories set the fire. Because of the fire, when Bartlett was appointed to the Continental Congress he declined the appointment.
In 1775 Bartlett was again selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress, this time accepting the position. For a period in the end of 1775 and the beginning of 1776 he was the only representative from New Hampshire. This meant that Bartlett would end up serving on all of the important committees as it was required that a representative from each colony would be on key committees. In 1776, when the question of independence from Britain came up, Bartlett as the representative from the Northern most colony was the first to cast his vote and it was in the affirmative. Also do to his position, he would be the second person to sign the Declaration of Independence after Congress President John Hancock.
Bartlett's lodge affiliation is not known. This may be due to confusion with another Josiah Bartlett who was also a doctor and lived during much of the same time. Many historic and masonic authors have written about Bartlett's association with the Craft.
William Beaumont is Born
Parke Monroe Banta is Born
Angelo Soliman Passes Away
François-Marie Arouet (a.k.a Voltaire) was Born


Radley Balko takes a look at a couple recent episodes of police abuse caught on camera. Both events are notable not only for the outrageous behavior involved, but also for the subsequent efforts to cover up what took place.
As video technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous, such recordings have rapidly become one of the most important tools for ensuring police accountability. It is critical that the right of citizens to record police in public be upheld and that efforts to restrict such activity be vigorously condemned. I'm not usually a big fan of the whole "If you're not doing anything wrong, what are you worried about?" argument, but when it comes to public servants charged with upholding the law, there's simply no excuse for secrecy.
Law enforcement officers who do their job legally and professionally should have no objection to being recorded in the course of their public duties. To argue otherwise is to create a blueprint for misconduct.
DeNeen L. Brown at The Washington Post attended our D.C. premiere at the Cato Institute yesterday and put together a thorough piece that's available online and in print. We're hearing from a lot of new people today as a result and it's exciting to see the video receive this kind of attention. We've even gotten a couple orders from police departments and I'm looking forward to their feedback because we worked hard to create a resource that would have educational value for police as well as citizens.
Our new film 10 Rules for Dealing with Police is arriving in mailboxes around the country, and the reviews are just getting started.
*Our friend Phil Smith at StoptheDrugWar.org takes an in depth look at the film here.
*Barbara Hollingsworth at the Washington Examiner attended yesterday's D.C. premiere at the Cato institute and has a good summary.
Scott plays Thug #1. Oh, yeah. Not Thug #2, which is played quite competently by Steve Silverman. No, the number one thug in this movie is definitely Scott Morgan.
I'm thinking there may be an Oscar nomination. That lean-back double-take when he starts running from the police is exceeded in style only by the intentional dive and double roll shortly after, ending with his grotesque mug frozen on the screen, which left me doubled up with laughter (and will give me nightmares tonight). Please, please, please, flex your rights.org — turn that sequence into a youtube video so I can watch it over and over again!
Fortunately for Pete and the rest of you, we have several outtakes from that scene. I'll see what I can do to get them spliced together into one awesome clip. Everyone seems to love seeing Steve and I get chased and roughed up by two massive cops, but wait til you see it happening over and over again with slight variations. Stay tuned, folks.
In the meantime, you can get your copy of 10 Rules for Dealing with Police right here.
Dallas police began a new initiative today to combat drugs. Citywide, officers are headed to suspected drug houses to "knock and talk" with the occupants.
If this sounds to anyone like a program that only affects drug offenders, it's not. Police tactics like these are always framed as an effort to "get weapons and drugs off the street," but they are so much more than that. By definition, the people targeted under such policies are innocent citizens against whom police have no actionable evidence of criminal activity. After all, when police have credible facts indicating that drug crimes are taking place at a specific location, they may obtain a search warrant and enter lawfully.
The "knock and talk" approach is used exclusively to enter private residences in the absence of probable cause. Vague and unfounded suspicions, or even prejudices, could ultimately determine which locations are singled out for investigation. In the process, innocent people living in high-crime neighborhoods are placed at great risk of arrest in the event that a guest, neighbor or former tenant left something illegal on their property. Our upcoming video, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police shows exactly how that can happen.
As misguided as these tactics are, there is one simple option available to concerned citizens who don't want police digging through their drawers: just don't let them in. Unless you give them permission to enter, police need a warrant to search your home. You may simply decline the search and tell the officers that you'll gladly cooperate if they return with a warrant. If that makes you uncomfortable, another option is not to answer the door at all, which also reduces the likelihood of police claiming that they saw or smelled something illegal when you opened the door for them.
Anyone in Dallas who's concerned about the new policy should consider organizing a similar effort.


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Please use the form below to submit your abstract for consideration. At present we can only guarantee time and space for poster presentations, but we are hoping to also be able to organize dinner/lunch time round table discussions and some oral presentations as well. Please indicate all of the various presentation formats that you would be suitable for your topic of presentation. You will hear back about whether your submission has been accepted on or before January 12, 2014. For more information about the details of each presentation type or relevant topics for submissions, please view the Call for Papers.
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Our new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been called a "four-star general in the privatization movement." One of the most destructive weapons this general has in her arsenal to use against public schools is voucher schemes.
As education activists know, vouchers divert taxpayer dollars away from public schools—starving them of the critical funding needed for students to thrive—only to use these funds to subsidize private and/or religious schools.
However, voucher proponents, like DeVos and politicians found in your state, almost never call them vouchers. Instead, they attempt to mislead parents, taxpayers, and voters by re-branding these plots to drain and defund public education with some pleasant-sounding, flowery name plucked from the school-choice lexicon.
As a service to pro-public education advocates everywhere, Education Votes is going to highlight our top five names used by politicians to sell voucher schemes to the public.
Opportunity Scholarships: A voucher that can be used for a wide range of items connected to attending a private and/or religious school, including tuition, transportation, equipment, and other expenses.
Parental Choice Scholarships: Functions like opportunity scholarships. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which recently announced plans to up its game promoting vouchers, is peddling its own model of this type of voucher legislation.
Tuition Tax Credits: Provides a state or federal income tax credit for private and/or religious school expenses, including tuition. In some states, instead of a tax credit, it's a tax deduction.
Education Savings Accounts: An investment account, similar to a Roth IRA, where money for private-school expenses can be saved. ESAs provide tax-free earned interest, as long as it's used for tuition and other education-related expenses. Education savings accounts generally benefit families who can already afford to send their kids to private school.
Charitable Tax Credit: Allows individuals and businesses to take a tax credit for donating to private, non-profit organizations that provide private school vouchers. It operates like a tuition tax credit, but, in this case, the tax credit shifts to the individual or businesses making the donation.
Whether it's so-called opportunity scholarships, tuition tax credits/deductions, or education savings accounts, the money to cover all of these voucher programs has to come from somewhere, and it's usually taken away from the vast majority of students attending our public schools. Therefore, if you see any of these names or titles, or, for that matter, any education legislation with the words "choice," "opportunity scholarships", or "tax credit" in the title, it's time to warn the members of your community that the budget for their neighborhood public school is in danger of being hijacked.
Ms. Devos speaks about choice. In the list of choices, it doesn't mention that the private schools may choose not to accept children of parents who have applied there.
so what? apply to another school.
The reason why the voucher system is under such scrutiny is because there is an uncertainty regarding the standards in which such schools would have to uphold. What about students who have IEPs, language limitations, parents who are less involved? Furthermore, can anyone assure that all all students will have the same opportunity to attend these "better" schools? The main issues that plague public schools in particular includemphasis, teacher shortages (teachers also get burned out and leave the field), limited resources (technology and supplies), and larger class sizes (30+ per class). If voucherso will remedy these issues, that would be good deal.
The standard is whether the parents are satisfied. No other standard is necessary. If the parents are not satisfied, either they won't choose the school in the first, place, or they will withdraw them. QED.
I am registered as Republican and they have failed us Americans deeply with DeVos election and many more reasons (NO DAPLY). Republican politicians are pushed by the dollar bill in their pocket only. I will become an Independent from now on. Go Bernie Sanders!
I doubt you are a registered R if BS is acceptable, but you are correct, R's are pushed by the money the NEA gives to their opponents, and unfortunately, in some unfortunate instances, gives to them. I am hoping Besty will be the savior from the government school/NEA monopoly Go Betsy!
I would like to see more evidence-based writing on EdVotes. I imagine many other sides of the argument have similar articles/sites about why their option is the better one–probably also with unsubstantiated (within the text) information. There's a whole lot of pathos and very little logos, you know? I would like to see hard data in support of claims being made. I don't think its a zero sum game; isn't it at least possible–like most arguments–that this one has some nuance? Let's look at why some families see vouchers as an attractive offer and go from there. It makes me suspicious to read any article so heavily one-sided, especially one with no data present within the article itself and on such a passionate subject. Even (especially?) if I agree with many of the points being made, I expect to be presented with checkable facts and reliable sources, as well as reasoning behind other ways of seeing it.
In short, if a student of mine turned this is, they would not get a very good grade. "Evaluate the counterclaims and cite your evidence" would be written at the top.
Don't let vouchers be used for private schools.
Yeah, that will break the government school/NEA monopoly. Govenrment school choice is like choosing which dealership to buy your Oldsmobile. Here's to the government school/NEA monopoly going the same way Olds,did … gone.
Best I can compare it to, is that rather than upgrading a fleet of cars than provide transportation for most of the kids in the USA at a reasonable cost, Sec DeVos is going to go buy a luxury cruise ship that few can fit on and none can afford, and call thatEducation problem solved.
Much like Mary Antoinette saying to the poor without bread, "well let them eat cake", not taking into consideration that their fields of wheat and chickens were surely rationed and cake with sugar is so much more expensive than the staple of bread they need.
deterioration of the public schools which will still be educating the MAJORITY of students.
The public school system is the foundation of our free society and the best hope of a free and equal generation.
Great meme! Hope you use it widely to educate the public.
Public Education is becoming for the left-overs. Thanks to all in insights and money grabbing politicians to make it appear that they are HELPING! Not enough money to support, provide PD in public schools; and yet – the voucher, scholarship, incentive awards – goes to exactly where???????
Yea uhhh. You need to chill and stop the spin. I am a public high school teacher who has used education savings accounts for years for my kids college. My kids were products of a great public k-12 school and one is now in college and the other will be shortly.
They are awesome and are helping me send my kids to college. The earned tax free interest has added enough to help with the funds needed – Otherwise they couldn't go. So please stop your own misleading statements to all the members.
I have been a member of AEA/ NEA since the 80's & in Alabama we have had to constantly fight for funds and against cuts by our legislature. They have been following ALEC bills and Republican national ideas..It seems the Republican party does not care for public schools even though two of the representatives from my district are retired educators. Since we lost our leader Paul Hubbert and Republicans took control, our per pupil expenditure has been cut by $700 per year.
Handing over the leadership of the department of education to a person with no experience seems ludicrous. Would you go to a manicurist to perform your heart surgery? Just because this woman has money and is business savvy it does not give her the credentials to understand public education.
Destroying public education will impact our entire nation; privileged individuals will continue to receive their private education while the masses without real or honest representation in our nations capital will be left behind!
Congress seems more concerned with padding their wallet while the American public (who actually pay their fare share of taxes) foot the bill. I thought it was public service, not holding tax payers hostage for ransom. What am I talking about is the bloated system where I pay for all legislators insanely expensive health care forever, and they have a pension plan that is not Social Security. Maybe if they too were depending on Social Security for part of their retirement we would not have to hear about saving SS all the time! Damn sure it would not be raided for other expenses. Lets get real about this country, it needs to go back to serving the people not the other way around.
Who has the intestinal fortitude to speak for the people who are afraid of the future? We the people are asked to believe that the corruption and conflicts of interests are not important or do not exist. Should individuals (elected officials) profit from legislation, insider information, bills and agendas that benefit the income of our elected leaders at the public's expense!!!??? Hell No! I say.
Get some ethics, some basic morals in Washington soon, or our country will implode upon its self.
Even though I don't live in Maine or Alaska, I am so proud of their two senators that voted against DeVos. It is truly sad that after all our efforts, we couldn't get one more Republican senator to vote their own mind. I am sure there were some who could see that she was unqualified and that the goal should be to strengthen our public school system where the majority of students go to learn. Our political system is broken beyond belief when senators are more swayed by money than common sense & the needs of their constituents.
I believe the school voucher program is a thinly veiled effort to undermine the separation of church and state. I also believe that many people do not realize that this long-standing separation so wisely established by the founding fathers is largely what has saved us from the political upheaval so universal in countries where there is no such separation. I resent my tax dollars being used to send students to private elementary schools (primarily religious-based schools). We should be concentrating our dollars and efforts on improving our public school system. And let's pay our teachers more and support their unions so they can continue to fight for fairness and advances in education for ALL children.


The Google Maps API is generally a pleasure to work with. After more or less inventing the whole Web 2.0 thing, the people behind Google Maps have continued to innovate, recently adding a Geocoder to their API, allowing address information to be translated into coordinates in Latitude and Longitude. Naturally having this information expands considerably the number of things you can do with Google Maps. Even better, it doesn't just return Coordinates for an address, it "normalizes" a query and returns the address in a structured way.
There's no doubt that creating a global XML standard for addresses must have been a challenging thing to try and do. Some countries use street names in addresses others do not. Some nations use island names, others have no islands. Some (like America) has county names but do not use them in addresses. So Kudos to OASIS for creating a standard called xAL and kudos to Google for trying to use it in their Google Maps API. Unfortunately, the devil is always in the details.
First, OASIS makes reading the standard harder than it should be by making you download a 10 megabyte zip file containing a whole bunch of standards, not all of which are currently relevant to me. Law #1 in the web age: Google is the source of all* traffic. The only reason I even found them is because Google helpfully links them.
While it's clearly better than nothing, the following quote from the spec tells much of the story: xAL can be used to define addresses in simple terms or in complex terms. It is up to the user to decide how they want to implement xAL.
I'd be very surprised if anyone anywhere has implemented software that can read and do something useful with the full range of XML that technically conforms to the spec. There's just too much of it.
Beautiful. Google has mapped US addresses nicely into the standard and it's easy to write code that does useful things. Unfortunately, in my small sample, Google only returns results of this form about 87% of the time.
Notice that County information is missing. This is not a fatal problem and is to be expected with a dataset as large and noisy as addresses. However, rather than simply leaving Sub Administrative Area unnamed (as the spec seems to suggest with its examples) the API remaps the City up to the Sub Administrative Area and omits the Locality element. Notice also that ThoroughFare and PostalCode are no longer a child of Locality but of Sub-Administrative Area.
I've sent a link to this post to the folks at Google Maps. I'll be interested to see whether they agree that it's a bug or think they're adhereing to the letter of the spec. That's the challenge with standards. They either say to much or to little.
Note: The examples above link to cached versions of what Google returns when you connect with a valid Maps Key. I cannot easily figure out what a key for your host might be so you'll need to get your own key and make your own queries to see the results for yourself.
I disagree regarding xAL. There are data quality products that have implemented the complete specifications of xAL. 10 mb is not the size of one standard namely, xAL. OASIS CIQ has 5 standards, xAL for international address representation, xNL to represent party names, xNAL is a combination of name and address, xCIL to represent party centric information and xCRL to represent party relationships. 10 MG consists of schemas, several examples and many different documents. Complaining about a standard without understanding in detail is not fair. Because xAL is industry and application neutral, it provides the flexibility to end users to have a clear idea of how they want to implement and this is why the statement, "xAL can be used to define addresses in simple terms or in complex terms. It is up to the user to decide how they want to implement xAL." was introduced and should not be taken out of context.
If Google Earth decided to implement xAL, then it is clear that xAL provides the fleibility to represent addresses of earth compared to other standards.


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EntertainmentTelevision
"Once Upon A Time" – Heart of Darkness episode review
Christopher Peck
Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) gets in touch with the evil within, thirsty for the Evil Queen's blood.
I know these "Lost" alum love literary allusions, but this title seemed a little strong. I mean, does Ginnifer Goodwin seem like what Joseph Conrad had in mind for Kurtz?
Minor gripes aside, last night's flirtation with evil was both infuriating and entertaining as hell. Some of the more annoying tendencies return, such as Regina's groan-worthy fare and Henry, being Henry. And then there's Snow White: a take-no-prisoners, pick-axe wielding, knight-torturing woman after my own heart. The slow reveal where she sings to a bluebird just to lure in it and swat at it with her broom was probably one of their best deployments of comedy yet. Turns out a Charming-size hole in her heart is the cause of her bitter 'tude, but I gotta say: it was a major turn-on. Ginnifer Goodwin's "dark side" was a pleasant surprise, even if it was a result of denying her true self. Most of the allure came from the pure unpredictability of what she would do to achieve her vengeful ends. I also yearned throughout the episode for her unadulterated brutality because the rest was so distastefully sugar-coated. The bad habit of repeating dialogue in both realms to emphasize a thematic tie was a well they drew from several times and only elicited obnoxious eye rolls from yours truly.
Lazy writing would be the wrong diagnosis. In my "professional" opinion, it stemmed from the blurring lines of reality that arose in last night's moon-gravity leap forward in the overarching plot. Though the implication of this cross-world channeling was important to clarify, I felt that they underestimated their audience. Networks tend to do this, but I expected Kitsis/Horowitz to know better after working on such an experimental and innovative network show (in case you're new, I liked "Lost," and they wrote for "Lost"…moving on). Beat you over the head lines like "She has had her heart broken, and that can make you do unspeakable things" and "Sometimes evil stares us right in the face and we don't even realize it," call attention to themselves in the worst way. Like that kid who gets no love from their high-expectation parents so s/he seeks validation from everyone else. Look everyone, I'm doing something clever with parallelism—and irony!
With the help of CGI Jiminy Cricket (could you imagine if it was a dude in a costume? Hilarious.) the seven dwarves stage an intervention, where even Happy relays his grievances (she broke his mug!) and they force her to move out unless she starts to return to her old gleeful self. Snow agrees to leave, but not for their benefit: she wants head to roll. The queen's gotta pay for (allegedly) killing her daddy, so she slings her pick-axe over her shoulder to hunt down the evil bi-otch. Moments later, she trips up a horse-riding knight and legit tortures him for information on the queen's whereabouts. Her threatening monologue about diamonds and how they're impervious to damage was awesomely diabolical. When she explains that her pickaxe, from the dwarf mines, is the only blade that can cut through a diamond ("So imagine what it could do to your soft flesh!) was the the sort of cutting-edge (pun intended) menace a writer dreams of having the opportunity to employ in dialogue. And the delight shows, especially in Goodwin's cold delivery.
In the real world, Emma's forced to book Mary Margaret to keep up appearances and not attract Regina's wrath. And frankly, the evidence is piling against her. Her fingerprints are all over the box that likely contains Kathryn's heart, AND said container is her jewelry box. Emma firmly believes in Mary Margaret's innocence, but she needs to exonerate her dutifully or she'll doom her friend to prison. Here's where everyone's least favorite precocious, fairy-tale zealot, Henry butts in, hoping to find the evidence that will vindicate his teacher. When he inspects the apartment with Emma, however, they find the murder weapon stashed in a heating vent. Discouraged, Henry seeks answers at the bottom of a mug of hot chocolate. Then the artist formerly known as Mysterious Biker Dude a.k.a August (ew) comforts the boy by professing his faith in The Book. In fact, he divulges to the kid his purpose in Storybrooke is to help Emma "see the light." Essentially he is OUAT's version of Desmond (am I right, Losties?) shepherding lost souls. He springs Henry into action, convincing him that with solid proof Emma will rally around his cause (Operation Cobra or "The lamest military operation name ever.").
Back in FTL, Grumpy confronts Snow as she's stripping the clothes off the knight (oh Ginnifer, how you tickle my fancy) and insists she let him help. He recommends seeking the counsel of Rumpelstiltskin since his potion is what altered her personality. She has no intentions of being cured, but she wonders if he can aid her in her mission. Rumpy does bestow a bow upon Snow that supposedly never misses it's target, free of charge. Rumpy slyly assures her, "I'm invested in your future." He never explains why he took her hair during their least deal (for the potion), but he drops a hint when he rambles on about how the only magic he hasn't been able to bottle up is love. And if he could, he would be all-powerful. It's a tidbit that intrigued me more than most they inserted into last night's narrative because anything that empowers Rumpy means that EQ (the Evil Queen) will be unseated as the biggest of the baddies which is definitely my MO. I mean, Regina was seen skinning an apple with a pocket knife in this episode. A villain doesn't get any more hammy than that.
Storybrooke alter-ego Mr. Gold also offers his assistance to Snow White's doppelganger, Mary Margaret, agreeing to be her legal counsel. Mary accepts, but like her counterpart she's uneasy that he's representing her gratis. He recites the identical forewarning, "I'm invested in your future," furthering my defeated feeling that OUAT cares very little about my sensitivities toward cheesiness. Also in the business of clearing Mary's good name (although for the first time in forever people start referring to her as Ms. Blanchard, why?) is David, who visits Dr.Hopper the town shrink hoping he can extract the memories he's lost during his blackouts. Under hypnosis, he upholds the motif of channeling the FTL and believes that his memory of insisting Snow not kill the Queen is actually him imploring Mary not to kill Kathryn. WHOOPSIE!
Prince Charming also confronts Rumpelstiltskin (after Red creates a kickass diversion from the pursuing royal guards when her inner wolf comes out to play), strong-arming him for a cure to Snow's personality disorder. When he confirms that true love's kiss is the only antidote, the prince rushes to find her before her assassination attempt. He doesn't leave, however, without striking a deal with Rumpy for her whereabouts, giving him his cloak in return. The imp is dubious about the value it possesses, but bear with with me on that. After a first attempt fails because he didn't remind her of who she used to be, Jiminy Cricket appears fro a pep talk, and upon the second try (if at first you don't succeed, kids, keep stalking that girl!) he restores Snow's memory after sacrificing himself by jumping in front of the arrow. His willingness to die before she slips into darkness touches her so deeply, enhancing the magic of that pivotal smooch.
Charming's immediately captured though, putting a damper on their reunion, but Snow vows that she "will always find [him]!" After genuinely apologizing to her dwarf buddies, they join her in the crusade to rescue her true love and the warm and fuzzy Snow returns! Thankfully, the disappearance of cutthroat Snow did not disappoint me, because both Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin bring their A-game in establishing chemistry, so you're as adamant about their love triumphing over evil as they are, and that empathy that is proving essential to the overall investment in the show's momentum.
The real world plot wraps up just as cathartically, but in the opposite direction of '"feel-good." After heeding August's advice to seek guidance from The Book, Henry surmises that the Queen's key will open any lock. So he smuggles away his "mom's" keys (resourceful little bugger, ain't he?) and coerces Emma into testing it out. When the key opens the apartment door, Emma's intuition of a set-up is reaffirmed. She ensures Emma that despite the DNA test confirming that it was Kathryn's heart, that she will do whatever it takes to free her, proving her gall by striking up an alliance with Mr. Gold. Mary's tempted by circumstance though when she finds the cell key beneath her bed (planted by Regina no doubt). And after David visits and admits to his increasing suspicion, due of his mixed-up memories, (a biting critique against the validity of hypnosis, huh?) she breaks down, banishing her true love. He resolve weakened, she uses the key to break out, obviously complicating any effort of Emma's or Mr. Gold's to absolve her.
The bigger payoff, for me, came before that final frame that reveals Mary's empty cell. In the FTL, we see Rumpy drop Snow's hair and a thread from Charming's cloak into a flask. The result is some sort of illuminated bond, which signifies that his purpose of collecting random personal items was indeed malicious. He now has successfully bottled love, elevating him to an omnipotence that would seem impenetrable. What this means in the larger context is unclear, but I like the prospects if he now has a leg up on the insufferable Evil Queen.
This development, among many others, affirmed my faith that we may be moving toward less isolated "fairy tale of the week" departures and have arrived at the sturdier backbone of the series. Not all of OUAT's ventures into folklore have been pointless, but meandering has become tedious considering how many episodes in we are. Although the hand-holding insulted my intelligence, I'm thankful there is a trajectory that I can grab onto and follow. A drama centered around fairy tales with no stakes is too self-indulgent to enjoy; and with newfound purpose, I'm more likely to tolerate such heavily lathered-on "significance. Though I wish the writers would stop being so keen to point it out. To be clear, my issue isn't with the idea of the borders of Storybrooke and FTL becoming indistinct, but when its added only to stroke the ego of the brain trust and to be "clever for clever's sake," I can't get behind that. But the risk-taking drove character action, so with cautious optimism I'll encourage the less dawdling, more uninhibited get-it-done approach.
For unveiling the series' dark side, while evolving the premise and capitalizing on the crucial draw of the show—the connection between Emma, Mary and David becoming a family unit again, and unifying to take down Regina—this week's episode earned my respect, despite testing my patience with cliched repetition. B, for more badass mofo Snow!
abcfairy taleGinnifer GoodwinJennifer MorrisonJosh Dallasonce upon a timeprince charmingsnow white
Christopher Peck is a former Blast television editor


Gemporia has just launched in Israel this August.
Since 2004, Gemporia has been providing quality gemstone jewellery at incredible prices to collectors in the United Kingdom. It was launched by entrepreneur Steve Bennett, who broke into the shopping television market with a disruptive falling price auction channel, where the price would drop until each item sold out.
Looking to expand internationally, Gemporia has just launched in Israel this August. The channel is currently available to stream online at Gemporia.com or via the Gemporia app. We caught up with Steve Bennett to find out how this all started.
Steve's passion for the natural world made one early business decision very easy - Gemporia would only ever sell natural gemstones created in the earth, and never lab-created synthetics and fakes. Steve and his family had built several successful companies founded on excellent customer service and real value for money, so the next step was to find a way of sourcing gemstones at much lower prices than usual.
Going directly to the source would be no easy task. There was only one thing for it - Steve got on a plane.
Steve quickly established connections with mine owners, gem hunters and dealers, and also with a jewellery crafting workshop. Gemporia had everything it needed to get on the air, which it did to a rapturous reception in October 2004. But it wasn't just innovations in the supply chain that brought down the prices. The reverse auction format of the channel allowed for even more reductions in the price customers would pay.
Diamond Pendant in Sterling Silver by Gemporia.
Throughout the 20th century, jewellers came to focus mostly on Diamonds as marketing efforts declined for the more colourful of Mother Nature's treasures. Sadly, many once-revered stones fell out of popular use.
Gemporia celebrates its 14th birthday later this year and is always looking to reach as many jewellery fans as possible. The ability to now deliver to Israel is the next step on this exciting gemstone journey.
Gemporia TV is available to stream 24 hours a day via www.gemporia.com and via the Gemporia app – just search 'Gemporia' in your app store.