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Doug Reviews: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
After sixteen years of just fighting Magneto, the X-Men finally have another one of their major villains turn up on screen in X-Men: Apocalypse—sorry, Kevin Bacon's hammy Sebastian Shaw doesn't count. Does the film raise the series to new heights or does it signal the end of the world?
MINOR SPOILERS THROUGHOUT
Usually I summarize the plot of the film first in my reviews. The problem is, there are so many disparate storylines going on in X-Men: Apocalypse, the summary could go on for pages—one of the major problems with the film. So, here's the quick version: It is 1983 and Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), possibly the first mutant, reawakens after centuries of sleep and immediately sets to destroying the world that humans have built so he can create a new one where the strong rule. He assembles his Four Horseman: Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who has been living quietly in Poland until tragedy finds him and he returns to his supervillain ways. Meanwhile, Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is traveling the world protecting mutants. Her current project is Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the teleporting, devil-looking hero fans will remember from X-Men 2. At Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Havok (Lucas Till) has brought his brother, Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), to Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) for help controlling his powers. When Cyclops arrives, he meets Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), who is shunned by many of the students because of her off-the-charts telekinetic and telepathic abilities—it's like everyone saw X-Men: The Last Stand and they know that she'll one day become Phoenix. When Apocalypse awakens, an energy pulse goes around the world. Xavier uses Cerebro to investigate and discovers that Moira Mactaggert (Rose Byrne) was at the epicenter of it—why he doesn't see Apocalypse there too is beyond me. Moira was investigating an Apocalypse cult in Egypt, so Havok and Charles go to visit her. Charles wonders if he did the right thing in X-Men: First Class in wiping her memories of him and the X-Men. When it is reported that Magneto has resurfaced, the X-Men come together to aid their former friend. Unfortunately, Mags has already allied with Apocalypse, who has found exactly what he wants in the powerful mind of Charles Xavier. Xavier is kidnapped and the X-Kids have to grow up and take on the greatest challenge they will ever face that no one will ever mention again in the future documented by the other films.
That's a lot going on for a single film and I haven't even mentioned how Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) fit in. And ultimately, that's the biggest problem with X-Men: Apocalypse—there's just too many characters introduced/re-introduced at once and a lot of them do nothing once they're in the movie. Director Bryan Singer and Screenwriter Simon Kinberg can't decide what this movie is about. Is it about Apocalypse? Is it about the reintroduction of the X-Men we met in the first two films? Is it about Charles and Magneto? Is it about Mystique finally embracing her role as a hero to the mutant community? It's like the filmmakers had all of these questions—each of which might have made fine movies all on their own—and just said, "Screw it, throw it all in there." The problem with that approach is that everyone gets the short shrift in the final product. I could probably count the number of lines Angel, Psylocke, and Storm have—combined—on two hands. These are characters that have long, storied histories in the X-Men comic books and they're reduced to fancy digital effects that look neat. Singer and Kinberg would have been better off making one major character a Horseman and making the other three nobodies. It's funny, there's a line in the film about the third films in trilogies always being the worst. Many think it's a dig at X-Men: The Last Stand, but then Singer goes ahead and makes all the same mistakes that film made by cramming too much into the film, diluting everything else.
This isn't to say that the film is all bad. There are a lot of great moments and nods to the comic books—comic fans: Moira has a son!—and the first half is really good as everyone is introduced. All the new X-Kids are well cast and I look forward to a film where we can actually, y'know, get to know them. However, that's all the film is really—setup for the final battle. There didn't feel like there was a real second act in this film, which leads it to being a great buildup to a finale that is a complete mess. There are several scenes of extreme close-ups of characters just standing around staring at what's going on around them. It's like halfway through writing the thing, Kinberg realized, "Oh crap, there're WAY too many people in this thing. I don't have anything for them to do!" As in X-Men: Days of Future Past, there is another great Quicksilver scene, but while I enjoyed it a lot, it really stretches credibility. Also, as can be seen in the final trailer that was released, the X-Kids end up at the Weapon X facility somehow and we get to witness Wolverine's escape. The scene is very cool, but its presence in this film is unnecessary—and as a fan of Wolverine, you don't know how much it pains me to say that. The X-Kids actually aid Logan in his escape and it weakens Wolverine as a character and shrinks this universe even more than it has already been shrunk. So, cool scene, but it should have been in a solo Wolverine film, not X-Men. Finally, and I'm not really giving anything away here, but the final battle is almost exactly the same circumstances as the very first X-Men film: the villain is trying to transfer his power and needs his flunkies to protect him from the X-Men while he does this. I don't know if it was an homage or if Singer and company have just run out of ideas.
The cast is good for the most part, but the majority of them are just unnecessary. Jennifer Lawrence is clearly here for contractual obligations only. The filmmakers have tried so hard to make Mystique an integral part of this universe for some reason and it fails on every level. I remember in First Class when Mystique actually had a personality. Well, that's gone now. McAvoy is great as usual as Charles Xavier. The X-Men brain trust really did a great job casting him as the younger Xavier. Fassbender is also good here as Magneto, but for most of the film he should have been called Sadneto, because all he does is stare into space looking sad. He definitely has reason to be sad in this one, but it got ridiculous after a while. Also, talking about Magneto brings us to our Apocalypse problem. Isaac plays the role very well, but I'm not sure they went the right way with how they wrote him. Usually, Apocalypse is a strongman with a myriad of superpowers and expert control over technology. In the film, they've made him more of a cult leader who can amplify other mutants' powers—he can do this in the comics, but again, it's usually through technological means—and then proceeds to let them do all the heavy lifting. So, while the X-Men eventually get to fight Apocalypse, mostly the problem they're dealing with comes from Magneto—again. Also, Apocalypse is too powerful here. He can basically do anything he wants to do and you begin to wonder what the heck he needs these other four bozos for. Speaking of those bozos, Munn and Hardy bring nothing to their roles because the characters aren't even characters. They're cyphers with familiar names. Psylocke's costume is comics accurate, but that's about it. Her powers are also wildly inconsistent. Alexandra Shipp is great as Storm, whenever she's given the chance to actually talk, but mostly she just stands around making fierce faces as she hurls lightning. Peters is great as Quicksilver, but again, his character is poorly written overall. I really liked Sheridan, Turner, and Smit-McPhee in their roles—Nightcrawler is especially great—but once again, we have the filmmakers leaning on well-worn crutches when Jean taps into the Phoenix Force at one point in the film. Really? We just re-introduced her and we're already heading back down that road? I didn't mind when they made Phoenix already a part of Jean in the earlier films—or did Magneto's machine at the end of X-Men trigger it?—it was kind of necessary since introducing space adventures to this universe wouldn't have worked too well. However, to immediately go back to it as a plot device is lazy. Develop the character first, Singer. Hey, Nicholas Hoult is also in this film as Beast again! Why am I mentioning him so late in this review? Because he barely does anything!
Overall, X-Men: Apocalypse falls into the same traps as other "trilogy-cappers." There is way too much material crammed into this film and the sad part is that most of it is completely unnecessary. There was a good X-Men story in here somewhere, but because the filmmakers can't decide on the focus for the movie, everything gets muddled into one big mess. Ultimately, I think it was a mistake to carry on with the "X-Men through the Decades" approach. This film would have been better served to have Famke Janssen and James Marsden fighting Apocalypse. There would have been less setup for the characters and more time to actually devote to the story.
Final note: Oh, and unless you're a huge X-Men comics nerd, you won't get the stinger at the end of all the credits. Just go pee and look it up online.
This entry was posted in Comic Books, Movies, Reviews and tagged Apocalypse, Film Reviews, Films, Hodgepodge, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Movie Reviews, Movies, Podcast, Reviews, Wolverine, X-Men. Bookmark the permalink.
Jim McCann Reply
Thanks for saving me some time and cash, amigo. Sorry to hear it – it should have been good, but as soon as I saw the first released clip (featuring a wholly disinterested Jennifer Lawrence and a Nightcrawler who apparently couldn't teleport through an electric fence) I began to have doubts. Make Mine Marvel (Cinematic Universe)!
Doug & Dirty A Author Reply
Nightcrawler was actually one of the best parts of the film. The parts are all there to make another really great X-Men film, but Singer and Kinberg just weren't up to the challenge. As always, thanks for reading, Jim!
Rabia Reply
[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]
I did find the film entertaining and thought Storm was much better here than in the prior films. I loved the introduction of the newer X-Men. The set up for Jean and Cyclops was nicely hinted at. I agree they made Apocalypse too powerful and seemed as though the other four were brainwashed. Loved the Quicksilver scene it was fun. I liked the part the movie made fun of itself. Wolverine part didn't seem consistent with the original X-Men films because wouldn't he have recognized Jean and company from before? That seems like an oversight
Yes, when she was actually allowed to have lines, Shipp is a much better Storm than Halle Berry. Wolverine wouldn't have recognized Jean, Scott, and Kurt because he hasn't met them yet in that timeline. The first time he met Jean and Scott was in the first X-Men which took place in the 2000s, while Apocalypse was the 80s. Thanks for reading!
Agreed! Shipp was so much better than Halle as Storm. Shame she wasn't given more to work with. I'd be up for watching a solo Storm film if done correctly.
I meant in X-Men Wolverine didn't seem to know Jean, Scott and Kurt. He did meet Kurt in X2 but he didn't seem to know them from the prequels. Is this a continuity error?
Doug & Dirty A Author
It's not a continuity error, yet. After the events of Days of Future Past, it's entirely possible that the exact events of X-Men, X2, and The Last Stand have been erased or altered. I don't think Singer and Kinberg have been very clear on the exact implications for the timeline. However, they could also get around Wolverine not knowing them because of the state he was in at Weapon X. He was more animal than man at that point, so while Jean and Scott might be familiar to him on some subconscious level, he wouldn't necessarily have remembered them. They can go either way with it, but I'm sure they'll go the "altered timeline" route.
Not sure how I missed this comment but thanks so much for clearing that up. Of all the guesses and supposed answers I've seen for that question you've managed to make the most sense. So many other people were making more complicated which honestly just annoyed me and my head hurt. Thanks again.


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Wayne Cogswell/Wayne Powers/Winston Cogswell
You are here: Home \ Artists \ Bands & Musicians \ Wayne Cogswell/Wayne Powers/Winston Cogswell
Rock 'n' Roll/Country & Western
Composer, Producer, Performer
RHODE ISLAND'S OWN ROCKABILLY REBEL
The Story of Sun Records Pioneer
WINSTON "WAYNE POWERS" COGSWELL
by Rick Bellaire
WAYNE POWERS, 1958: Winston Cogswell's Phillips International/Sun Records official promotional photo
It is not possible to overstate the importance of Winston Cogswell (a/k/a Wayne Powers and Wayne Cogswell) to Rhode Island music history. Not only was a Rhode Islander literally present at the birth of Rock 'n' Roll inside the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-1950s, but while there, he made numerous, innovative and significant contributions to what became known around the world as "The Sun Sound."
The story begins when Winston was born in 1928 in northern Maine just two miles from the Canadian border. As a very young boy, his family relocated to Warwick, Rhode Island where he took up the guitar. He later, as a young man, gained his first experience playing professionally at area dances and nightclubs. In the summer of 1954, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee with an eye to starting a cattle-hauling business. His sister Louise was already living there and his brother-in-law's family owned a stockyard which was in need of transportation services, so Winston surmised they'd be able to work together. To support himself at first while the vehicles and equipment for the business were being readied, he took a job selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door-to-door and happened to sell one to the wife of Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records. When Winston mentioned that he was a musician, Mrs. Phillips suggested that he and Sam should get together. He stopped by the Sun studio to introduce himself and the two struck up a friendship. He soon started the successful Cogswell Livestock Trucking Company moving cattle from Texas and Missouri to Nashville and later a second successful company with his brother-in-law.
Sun headquarters, Memphis, Tennessee, mid-1950s
Phillips had started the Memphis Recording Service in the early 1950s which offered remote, on-location recording for church sermons, political speeches and awards dinners. He soon expanded to open the Sun Recording Service, a professional studio catering to local artists looking to record vanity records or demos. Recognizing the lack of major record label product for the genres of music most popular at the time in Memphis (Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Country & Western), he soon began utilizing his studio to cut sides on some of the area's most popular local artists (B.B. King, The Howlin' Wolf, Doug Poindexter & His Starlight Ramblers) which he then released on his Sun Records label or leased out to other companies such as Chess Records in Chicago. He began to assemble a group of musicians to write and arrange songs, produce the records and provide the backing tracks for his artists which included some of the greatest musicians in popular music of the second half of the twentieth century such as Ike Turner, Scotty Moore, "Cowboy" Jack Clement and Roland Janes.
Sam Phillips behind his Ampex tape recorder, mid-1950s
By 1955, Phillips had just entered the Pop market with a recent signing – an eighteen year old truck driver named Elvis Presley whom Phillips had met when he'd come in to Sun to cut some vanity records as gifts to his mother. Winston used to drop by the Sun studio on a regular basis to see Sam and check out the musical goings-on. (He was present at the session when Sam produced "Good Rockin' Tonight," Elvis Presley's second record with Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, and one of the most important recordings in the history of popular music. ) During one such visit, Sam was telling Winston how he was looking to move further into the new "rock 'n' roll" segment of the pop market and was on the hunt for more artists. He mentioned that another Sun regular, guitarist/vocalist Ray Harris, was looking for a guitar player and songwriting collaborator and suggested that the two should get together.
Ray Harris at Sun, 1956
Harris and Cogswell were soon introduced and formed a partnership writing songs and rehearsing together. The duo quickly placed one of their songs for release with Sun under Ray Harris's name, "Come On, Little Mama" in 1956. It's a blazing slice of rockabilly in its infancy with an incredible Cogswell solo placing him squarely on the same plane as his virtuoso compatriots at Sun, Scotty Moore, by then acting as Elvis's band leader, and Roland Janes from the studio house band. The B-side is another "Harris-Cogswell" original, "Where'd You Stay Last Night." It's a slower, bluesier number, but still in the rockabilly style with more great guitar from Winston. The record charted well in the south and made some noise nationally, so Phillips was looking for a follow-up release.
The duo's next record is now considered a Rockabilly classic: "Greenback Dollar, Watch And Chain." The song is a Harris rock 'n' roll rewrite of a traditional folk song and was recorded at a now-legendary wild and drunken session which featured more blazing guitar from Winston, backing vocals by Winston and recent Sun signing Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano. The B-Side, "Foolish Heart," was a Cogswell original and, like its predecessor, is again slower and bluesier than its companion piece and features Winston playing in style more akin to B.B. King than Scotty Moore. Released in the summer of '57, the new record again did well in the southern markets and Ray and Winston hit the road, playing shows throughout the south and southwest. One humorous incident from their travels is when the two auditioned for – and were accepted for – an appearance on the nationally broadcast "Major Bowes Amateur Hour" radio show. They just figured it would be a good way to promote their records, but they were disqualified when Bowes realized the two seemed a bit too "professional" and discovered they had nationally released records out! But, all in all, between Sam's refusal to send his artists out together on package tours and the demand for Ray's and Winston's services back at Sun headquarters, their roadwork was limited. They did manage to accompany Elvis to Tupelo, Mississippi where they opened the show for him on his first, hugely successful and emotional return to his hometown after his initial successes.
By 1957, with Elvis gone to the greener pastures at RCA Victor Records and facing compulsory military service, Ray Harris decided that his "…future lay on the other side of the studio glass," as he remarked in a later interview, and left Sun and his partnership with Winston to become a founding partner in Hi Records. He secured his shares with a $3.00 investment and the delivery of a signed contract for the services of Elvis's soon-to-be-out-of-work bassist and his group, Bill Black's Combo. (Hi Records became one of the most successful independent labels of the 1960s and '70s, most notably with soul legend Al Green.)
Winston remained at Sun and became a mainstay at the label working behind the scenes as a composer, producer, arranger and guitarist, and he collaborated on sessions with all the major figures at the company including Bill Justis, Jack Clement and, of course, Sam Phillips himself. He stepped up to the mic again as a recording artist – this time as lead vocalist – for a release on Sun's sister label, Phillips International. On October 21 and 23, 1957, Winston recorded three sides during sessions with Sun's principal studio musicians: Roland Janes and Sid Manker on guitar, Stan Kesler on bass, and Robert Talley on drums.
One track, Jack Clement's "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen," was more than likely a demo for Johnny Cash as three weeks later the song was given over to Cash during a session on November 12, 1957. Winston remembers collaborating with Clement on the arrangement, based on their October session, and production for this recording which pushed open the door to the pop charts for "The Man In Black." Released on January 6, 1958, the record reached #14 on Billboard's Hot 100. The other two songs, both Cogswell originals, became his first record as a featured artist.
Released in March, 1958 as Phillips 3523, the single represents Winston's valiant attempt to move the Sun "sound" into the future. For this release, Sam Phillips rechristened Winston Cogswell with a stage name that is now rock 'n' roll legend: Wayne Powers.
The A-side, "My Love Song," is an early example of white Doo-Wop, contemporary with early attempts at the style by New York City groups such as Dion & The Belmonts and The Mystics. There's still a country/southern vibe about the cut and it foreshadows what RCA and Decca would be doing in the coming years as "The Nashville Sound" attempted to grab its share of the rock 'n' roll market with Skeeter Davis and Brenda Lee.
The B-side, "Point Of View," is a "light" rockabilly sound, much in the same vein as the style being pioneered on the West Coast by the singer/songwriter brother team of Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and guitarist James Burton behind teen television star Ricky Nelson. (During the midnight session for "Point Of View," Elvis dropped by unannounced at the studio and inadvertently ruined a take! They started over and that next take became the record.)
Wayne's solo record was a Cashbox "Pick Of The Week"
Either side of the Wayne Powers release might have proved a national smash for the company and made Winston a star, but it was not to be. Despite their incredible successes with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, the business office of the Sun organization was in disarray and cash-flow was an enormous problem. The record was not heavily promoted and Phillips really preferred that Winston remain in Memphis working behind the scenes anyway instead of sending him out on tour to promote the single.
The session logbooks at Sun show that two more sessions were recorded which list "Wayne Powers" as the artist. In 1958, he returned to the studio on May 17 and again on June 10 to cut two more sides with an even more impressive group backing him: Bill Black on bass, Jerry Lee Lewis on piano, Robert Talley on drums, and Billy Lee Riley and Winston on guitar.
The two sides went unissued at the time. Winston recorded Billy Riley's "No Love Is Mine" and his own "What Will I Do." The first remains unissued and Cogswell has no clear memory of cutting the song. But "What Will I Do," a great R&B-styled torch song with terrific piano from Jerry Lee, finally saw the light of day on the Bear Family Sun Records box sets of the 1990s. It is clearly a finished master and, judging by the presence of three of the label's heavy hitters in the backing group, it is easy to speculate that these sessions were probably intended for release as a second Wayne Powers single. Sam Phillips, who had several major releases ready to go including Jerry Lee's "Breathless" and "High School Confidential" and Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way," probably passed on the record deciding once again to keep Winston in the studio where he needed him more than ever rather than take the chance that he'd have to send him out on the road to promote the record.
By this time, Winston was married with three children and was having difficulties making ends meet. He was not getting paid as an artist (the distributors' slow return process was blamed) nor seeing any royalties as a songwriter (despite the fact that his songs were handled by Phillips own in-house publishing company, Knox Music). Most weeks, he was not even seeing an hourly-wage paycheck for all the studio work!
At one session in 1959, he recorded his own version of a rock 'n' roll dance instrumental he called "Teensville." Knowing he had a smash on his hands, he reckoned that he had some leverage with Phillips. Sam wanted to release the record, but Winston refused to sign it over until he'd seen some back pay and royalties. When Sam was not forthcoming, Cogswell decided to set himself up with another publishing company. Now calling himself "Wayne Cogswell" (a combination of his given and stage names), he pitched it to a Nashville publisher who placed it at RCA with the legendary guitar genius Chet Atkins himself!
Cogwell's instrumental became the title track of this best-selling Chet Atkins album
The song was a smash! Wayne began funneling many of his compositions toward Nashville and he developed a friendship and working relationship with Buddy Killen of Tree Music, the most powerful publisher in "music city" at the time. He had two more cuts with Atkins, "The Slop" and "Rainbow's End," and even greater success with a song he'd written with his then wife Dolores, with whom he'd begun a songwriting partnership, "Someday, Someday," which hit big for Skeeter Davis.
Picture sleeve from the hit single of another Wayne Cogswell original
A personal message from the great Chet Atkins thanking Wayne for "Teensville"
He stuck around Memphis for a while attending to his usual duties in the studio and along the way, he composed and produced one more truly classic slice of Sun Records history, "Somehow Without You" by Mickey Milan. Mickey was one of just a handful of female artists at the company and Wayne knew she'd be perfect for the song. He asked another Sun artist, Bill Justis, to co-produce and provide the backing band. (Wayne had recently done Bill a similar favor by working on the arrangement for Bill's international smash hit, "Raunchy.") Mickey's record is now considered one of the finest Memphis recordings of all-time and beloved worldwide by fans and collectors. (An interesting, historical side note is that "Raunchy" became the song George Harrison performed for John Lennon as his audition to join The Beatles!)
As the '50s were drawing to a close, Wayne decided that the only way to provide for his family was to leave Sun and look for other opportunities. He figured that, as a composer, he could still do business with the publishing companies without being on the scene and in 1960, Wayne, Dolores and their kids relocated to Rhode Island where his mother was still living. He took a stop-gap job at Grinnell, the fire-protection giant, in Cranston while he decided what his next musical move would be. It was there that he met Ray Peterson, a composer and pianist from Warwick. With another friend, electrical engineer Ken Dutton, the trio formed what was to become the most successful record company in the history of Rhode Island, Wye Records. But that's another story…
THE WYE RECORDS STORY
You can read all about the second era of Wayne's career and the history and accomplishments of Wye by following this link to the "Record Labels & Producers" section of the Rhode Island Music Hall Of Fame Historical Archive:
www.ripopmusic.org/musical-artists/producers/wye-records/
Wayne Cogswell today
WAYNE COGSWELL/WAYNE POWERS RECORDINGS
For more information on the career of Winston "Wayne Powers" Cogswell including 70 samples of his music, visit his YouTube and MySpace sites:
http://www.youtube.com/user/winston271001
http://www.myspace.com/WinstonCogswell
HISTORY OF SUN RECORDS
All of incredible and historic work accomplished by Winston "Wayne Powers" Cogswell during the early part of his career in Memphis, Tennessee in the 1950s is well documented at the following website:
www.706unionavenue.nl
WINSTON COGSWELL/WAYNE POWERS MEMPHIS/NASHVILLE DISCOGRAPHY:
THE TENNESSEE YEARS 1954-1959
Come On Little Mama b/w Where'd You Stay Last Nite (Sun 294) 1956
Original 78 rpm pressing, A-Side
Original 78 rpm pressing, B-Side
Greenback Dollar, Watch And Chain b/w Foolish Heart (Sun 272) 1957
My Love Song b/w Point Of View (Phillips International 3523) 1957
What Will I Do? (Sun Rock 'n' Roll Volume 3, Charly Records CPCD-8353)
Although unreleased at the time of its recording, this Wayne Powers master finally saw the light of day on the Bear Family Sun Records box set of the 1990s. At the time of this writing (2014), the easiest – and most affordable – way to acquire this track is by purchasing the budget-priced UK compilation from Charly Records pictured above. The song is also available for download at Amazon.com and iTunes.
MICKEY MILAN
Somehow Without You b/w The Picture (Phillips International 3533) 1958
Teensville (RCA Victor 7684) 1959
Rainbow's End (RCA Victor 7747) 1960
The Slop (RCA Victor 7847) 1960
Someday, Someday (RCA VIctor 7863) 1961
All of the recordings on which Wayne Cogswell participated while at Sun are available on various compilation CDs and as original records through collectors' outlets such as eBay and GEMM, but his complete works are most readily and easily available on the two Bear Family boxed sets of the history of Sun Records available through Amazon.com and other online retailers as well as by downloads at iTunes and other download services.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Summer signing Hayden Mullins hopes to play a role turning Notts County's fortunes around in the new season.
In the latter stages of 2013.14, the Magpies squad had to overcome the pressures of potential relegation to guide the club to Sky Bet League 1 safety.
Although a remarkable finish to the campaign that was concluded with The Great Escape, Mullins is determined not to go through the same again.
The centre-back, who will become a permanent Notts player on 1 July when his contract with Birmingham City expires, has targeted a top half finish.
He said: "The pressure heading into the games was huge and I remember going into games here knowing that you have to win to get anywhere close to getting out of the bottom four.
"Pressures like that going into games is what you don't need as players, you want to be able to go out there and play your game and win football matches.
"We managed to get out of it and it's something that we don't want to repeat again.
"I think we can achieve as much as we want to achieve next year - consistency is the key.
"The manager and staff will have a plan of where we want to go and how we attack it.
To sponsor Mullins, call 0115 9557 241. For full sponsorship details, click here.


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We Live Here: What happens to students when failing schools close?
By Jennifer Guerra • Jan 27, 2017
Listen to "We Live Here" - a documentary about the history and future of Detroit's public schools.
The fates of neighborhoods and schools are intimately intertwined. That's especially true in high-poverty areas like Detroit.
You can see those fates playing out in tandem across the city in part one and two of this documentary.
So how do we make sense of what is happening, not just in Detroit, but in cities all across the country?
And why, despite wave after wave of reforms, do America's inner city schools continue to struggle?
To find out, let's head back to Noble Elementary-Middle School on Detroit's west side and ask some of the students what they think.
New principal, new paint job
Noble, like many other high-poverty schools, has seen several principals come and go in just a few years.
Credit Jennifer Guerra / Michigan Radio
Jayden Williams and his friend Darnelle are seventh-graders at Noble. Darnelle has been attending Noble since second grade and Jayden has been here since preschool.
They have both seen a lot of things change at the school over the years. Like many schools in high-poverty areas, Noble has had a lot of staff turnover. Jayden and Darnelle have had three different principals: Mr. Ellis, Ms. Broden and Ms. Webb-Harris.
And every time a new principal comes in, they bring new rules and new priorities.
"Like principals, they got different rules, different minds and all that," Darnelle said. "They want to have their school like how they have it run, and stuff."
"Once, when Mr. Ellis was here, our gym floor was dark, dark brown and all the wax had been pulled off," Jayden said. "And then since Ms. Broden came, she fixed that with new fresh wax and painted it all over and got us some new rims in the gym, and then when Ms. Webb-Harris came, she hired a new gym coach and the gym coach sprayed our logo on the walls."
That gym metaphor is spot on.
High poverty, low-performing schools see this kind of turnaround every couple of years. A new principal comes in, puts their own systems in place and the kids have to learn a completely new set of rules and expectations. The gym goes through it, too.
That is not stability. And this is not breaking news: kids need stability in order to thrive. They also need a safe place to live.
"If your neighborhood is very good, then you're gonna have a nice school. And for us, we got all these burnt down houses, we got all these thugs, other stuff, people racing up and down the street," Jayden said.
He said all of that stuff makes it hard to learn because there are so many things competing for their attention. The kind of neighborhood Jayden described disproportionately affects poor black and brown kids across the country.
"Poverty is not a learning disability"
Education is supposed to be the key to equal opportunity for every kid. In neighborhoods like Littlefield, schools have to be able to overcome generations of poverty and racism to do that...and manage to teach at the same time.
It's a heavy, heavy lift.
"We've completely overlooked the ways in which poverty affects learning and why it is that so many of the schools serving poor children are struggling," according to Pedro Noguera, an expert on urban education and a professor at UCLA's graduate school of education.
Noguera has spent a lot of time researching and thinking deeply about the role of poverty in education. And he said if we wanted to change the education outcomes for poor kids in America, we could.
"We're one of the few countries that consistently spends less money to educate poor children than we do to educate affluent children, and that means the teachers are frequently required or expected to take on roles that go beyond traditional teaching. They're functioning as social workers and counselors and therapists. And this I think contributes to high attrition amongst teachers in these schools, stress among those teachers and school failure," he said.
"We're one of the few countries that consistently spends less money to educate poor children than we do to educate affluent children, and that means the teachers are frequently required or expected to take on roles that go beyond traditional teaching." - Pedro Noguerra
Noguerra said if we continue to ignore poverty, we will continue to leave millions of children behind.
"And again, we have to keep in mind: if we can change the conditions, we can change the outcomes. Because poverty is not a learning disability, there's absolutely no evidence that poor kids can't learn, that they can't achieve under the right conditions."
The ideal scenario would include things like small class sizes, highly trained teachers, social, emotional and behavioral supports, stable housing and access to high quality early education.
But the reality on the ground looks a lot different.
"My kindergartners each have 31 students, my first graders have two classrooms and they both have about 32 students, second grade is also very large with 31 kids. So, then you have K-2 which is also our age group that struggle the most academically and those are my largest classroom sizes," said Noble principal, LaToyia Webb-Harris.
She says there is only one teacher in each class, and no para-pro or teacher's assistant to help out.
Big class sizes are incredibly common in high-poverty urban schools like Noble. White, wealthier districts on average have smaller class sizes and more staff to help. Webb-Harris does have two school service assistants, each of whom spend an hour a day in each K-2 class. She had money in the budget for two more of those SSA positions, but couldn't find anyone willing to fill them.
"That salary of a SSA is horrible, and what we ask of them is unfair. So until those salary adjustments are made, it's going to be difficult to attract good staff members to do the work that's needed in priority schools. HR couldn't find anyone to fill those positions, unfortunately," Webb-Harris said.
She has three full-time teaching vacancies at her school, in large part, because the pay isn't competitive.
Detroit also has the worst student chronic absenteeism rate in the country. Webb-Harris said until that's dealt with, you're not going to see any real improvement in student achievement, because you can't teach kids if they aren't at school.
Okay, so that's the bad news.
But despite all that - student achievement is actually inching up. Webb-Harris said that's due, in part, to a huge influx of cash she got from the U.S. Department of Education called a School Improvement Grant - or SIG. President Barack Obama's administration gave out $7 billion in SIG money to try to try and turn around more than 1,800 low-performing schools across the country.
Noble got the maximum amount a school can get: $6 million spread out over three years. In exchange, the school underwent a major turnaround.
Tia Ervin is the parent liason at Noble Elementary-Middle School.
Webb-Harris used the money to buy technology for the students, professional development for the staff, a data coach to track student growth and a parent liaison to help improve family involvement in the school.
Tia Ervin is the school's first parent liaison and she said her goal is to get parents "more involved in their kids education. Get them to volunteer, peek their head into the classroom, get a relationship with the principal, help in the lunchroom," and other things.
She said she'll consider it a success if she gets 100 parents involved in some way. Currently, only about a dozen have signed up to help. The school also hosts a weekly Family University night. It's run by Urban Leadership Development and includes free food, childcare and guided conversations about child development.
The first week it was offered, only one parent showed up. By the end of December, that number had gone up to roughly ten. And according to Webb-Harris, all the changes do seem to be improving student achievement.
Family University night at Noble Elementary-Middle School includes free food, childcare and guided conversations about child development.
"Over the past 3 years, we have gone up. It's been small increases, but they're increases. We need to make larger impacts, which is our goal, because the increases have been so small," she said. "But when you start at zero percent proficient, and now you may have two percent or three percent, it's a small number but it is climbing."
Kerstin LeFloch is with the American Institutes of Research. She has studied school turnaround efforts, and SIG specifically, for a decade.
"Being a chronically low-performing school is not a life sentence. Schools can improve. However that improvement is extremely fragile," she told us.
LeFloch traveled across the country to study some of the schools that got federal grants from the SIG program. She found that, more often than not, the grants served as a kind of catalyst for the staff. They helped galvanize people and re-focus the school. But the SIG money goes away after three years, and therein lies the problem.
"A lot of schools were not really well positioned to sustain some of the building blocks that they had put in place under SIG, and that's really one of the saddest parts of SIG is that sustainability, even in schools that appeared to be on the right track so to speak, it was going to be hard to stay on that track," LeFloch said.
A report was released this month that definitively said whether the SIG grants helped boost student achievement. Unfortunately, the answer is no, it didn't work. The U.S. government spent billions nationwide trying to turn around failing schools.
And according to the report:
"Overall, across all grades, we found that implementing any SIG-funded model had no significant impacts on math or reading test scores, high school graduation, or college enrollment."
Doing better, but not well
We started this documentary talking about school closures, and how they impact neighborhoods. People don't want their schools to close. School closures are personal and political.
But when schools are closed, do kids benefit?
James Kemple set out to answer that question. He's the Executive Director of the Research Alliance for New York City Schools and a professor at New York University.
New York City closed its fair share of schools, including 29 high schools that were chronically failing. Rather than shut them down all at once, the district phased out the schools, not letting new students enroll after a certain point.
Kemple found the phase out had no impact - positive or negative - on the students already at the school. But it had a big, positive impact on the students who would've gone to one of those closed schools.
"We found that students who had to pick other options did end up in better schools in terms of things like graduation rates, attendance rates and test scores," Kemple said.
He says students at their new high schools did better, but not great. Graduation rates for those students were still far below the citywide average. A study in Chicago found similar results.
Chicago closed a bunch of failing schools all at once, and the study found that the majority of displaced kids moved on to better schools. Better schools, but not great schools.
And that's the catch. Only the kids who went to significantly better schools improved academically, according to the data. The latest study out of Chicago shows that only one in five kids was able to snag a seat in one of those top-tier schools.
A study in Michigan also saw some improvements for displaced students who went to better schools. But the same study found that kids at those better schools did worse with the influx of new kids.
There's one more thing that happens when a school closes that's specific to Detroit: Every time DPS closes one of its schools, the district loses money and students.
When they close a school they lose - on average - 30% of the students, according to one district official. Students move on to charters or leave the city altogether.
So, where do we go from here?
State school reform officer, Natasha Baker, will have a big say in what happens next for students in Detroit and across Michigan. She's in charge of figuring out what to do with the state's lowest-performing schools and the students who go there.
"So in the entire state of Michigan there are about 100,000 kids in priority schools right now and this is across 76 different districts," Baker said.
Baker said she can appreciate the passion and emotion folks have for their schools, but she says she also knows the only way she was able to climb out of poverty is because she got a good education. That's what made the difference.
There are currently 186 "priority schools" in Michigan. Schools like Noble that are in the bottom five percent and trying to turn things around. The vast majority of these schools serve poor, black and brown kids who live in struggling neighborhoods. It's a life Baker knows all too well.
"This is something that I've prayed about for a long time as a child, that if I made it out I would serve my entire life, spend my entire life, helping other children get out so they can return. It's the only way to change the world. So I'm excited about it. I understand the poverty conditions. I've lived that life, I have family members still living that life, but my goal is to make sure every kid, especially those born in poverty, have access to quality schools and that's what the work is about," Baker said.
Baker's office just came out with a list of the worst schools in the state. Schools that continuously fail to show student improvements. Thirty-eight schools are on the list and are slated for possible closure. Nearly two-thirds of those are in Detroit.
By law, Baker is allowed to close those schools, but a Republican state lawmaker wants to repeal that law, so it's unclear at this point whether those closures will actually happen.
Noble Elementary-Middle School is safe for now. It's got one more year to bring up those test scores.
But a big question remains: will it be able to do that?
We now know closing a school and shipping kids off to another school doesn't automatically improve outcomes for those kids. And school turnaround by itself doesn't seem to work either.
There's a pretty clear reason why our efforts to fix failing schools are falling short: poverty. The vast majority of kids in the lowest performing schools in the state are poor.
And, as Principal LaToyia Webb-Harris will tell you, poverty doesn't just go away because you close a school.
"Because then you have the same conditions, the same learning obstacles, the same challenges that then go to that school," Webb-Harris said.
The thing is, we know what it takes to help kids in poverty do better in school. We know what works. Other states have done it. But Michigan has not.
And until we decide to change that, we will continue to fail our kids.
That won't just hurt students. It will hurt the state's future economic success. Detroit, in particular, is teetering on the edge of what many believe and hope to be a real renaissance for the city.
"The city will not be able to do what they want to do if they don't have schools for the new and upcoming Detroit families to send their children to. So what they decide to do with those low-achieving, community schools, we will have to wait and see," Webb-Harris said.
(You can find a full transcript of the documentary audio here.)
We Live Here
detroit public schools
Series & Documentaries
We Live Here: A neighborhood school on the brink of closure
Jennifer Guerra / Michigan Radio
"We Live Here" - a documentary about neighborhood schools in Detroit.
(Support trusted journalism like this in Michigan. Give what you can here.)
Over the last 15 years, cities across the country have faced wave after wave of school closures. Places like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia closed down dozens of buildings at a time.
But the district that closed the most schools during that time was Detroit Public Schools.
Mapping the options for kids in failing Detroit schools
By April Van Buren • Jan 25, 2017
April Van Buren / Michigan Radio
There are 25 schools in Detroit waiting to hear whether they'll be closing their doors at the end of the school year.
So, where would all those students end up if those schools did close?
Click on the map below to see the nearby options for each possible closure and how they stack up academically.
We Live Here: The broken promise of school choice in Detroit
In part one of our State of Opportunity documentary, We Live Here, we spent time in Littlefield — a Detroit neighborhood right on the edge. It's trying for a comeback, but so much depends upon whether the elementary school there stays open.
Now let's visit a neighborhood that's past that point. A place where most of the DPS schools are long gone - abandoned, torn down or replaced by charters.
If you want to close the achievement gap, you can't ignore poverty
The Review Univ. of Delaware / Flickr CC / http://j.mp/1SPGCl0
Poor kids in Michigan, and across the country, do worse in school than their wealthier peers.
That's particularly true for kids attending schools where most of the other students are also low-income, too. Schools that do manage to get kids in concentrated poverty performing on par with wealthier peers are the exception.
This information is probably not all that surprising to you. But if you need a visual aid, take a look at where the bottom 5% of schools are in Michigan.


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Reagan at Christmas: To 'Millions of Us, Jesus Is Much More, He Is Divine'
By Michael W. Chapman | December 25, 2015 | 3:25pm EST
President Ronald Reagan. (d. 2004)
In his Dec. 24, 1983 radio address to the nation, President Ronald Reagan recounted George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in 1776, which changed the course of U.S. history; praised Americans for their genorosity; and talked about Christmas as the "birthday of the Prince of Peace" who, for millions of us, "is divine."
"It's been said that all the kings who ever reigned, that all the parliaments that ever sat have not done as much to advance the cause of peace on Earth and good will to men as the man from Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth," says Reagan.
Below are the complete remarks by President Reagan on that Christmas Eve.
My fellow Americans:
Like so many of your homes, the White House is brimming with greens, colorful decorations, and a tree trimmed and ready for Christmas day. And when Nancy and I look out from our upstairs windows, we can see the National Christmas Tree standing in majestic beauty. Its lights fill the air with a spirit of love, hope, and joy from the heart of America.
I shared that spirit recently when a young girl named Amy Benham helped me light our national tree. Amy had said that the tree that lights up our country must be seen all the way to heaven. And she said that her wish was to help me turn on its lights. Well, Amy's wish came true. But the greatest gift was mine, because I saw her eyes light up with hope and joy just as brightly as the lights on our national tree. And I'm sure they were both seen all the way to heaven, and they made the angels sing.
Christmas is a time for children, and rightly so. We celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace who came as a babe in a manger. Some celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a great teacher and philosopher. But to other millions of us, Jesus is much more. He is divine, living assurance that God so loved the world He gave us His only begotten Son so that by believing in Him and learning to love each other we could one day be together in paradise.
It's been said that all the kings who ever reigned, that all the parliaments that ever sat have not done as much to advance the cause of peace on Earth and good will to men as the man from Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth.
Christmas is also a time to remember the treasures of our own history. We remember one Christmas in particular, 1776, our first year as a nation. The Revolutionary War had been going badly. But George Washington's faith, courage, and leadership would turn the tide of history our way. On Christmas night he led a band of ragged soldiers across the Delaware River through driving snow to a victory that saved the cause of independence. It's said that their route of march was stained by bloody footprints, but their spirit never faltered and their will could not be crushed.
The image of George Washington kneeling in prayer in the snow is one of the most famous in American history. He personified a people who knew it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness; they must also seek help from God, their Father and Preserver.
In a few hours, families and friends across America will join together in caroling parties and Christmas Eve services. Together, we'll renew that spirit of faith, peace, and giving which has always marked the character of our people. In our moments of quiet reflection I know we will remember our fellow citizens who may be lonely and in need tonight.
``Is the Christmas spirit still alive?'' some ask. Well, you bet it is. Being Americans, we open our hearts to neighbors less fortunate. We try to protect them from hunger and cold. And we reach out in so many ways -- from toys-for-tots drives across the country, to good will by the Salvation Army, to American Red Cross efforts which provide food, shelter, and Christmas cheer from Atlanta to Seattle.
Churches are so generous it's impossible to keep track. One example: Reverend Bill Singles' Presbyterian Meeting House in nearby Alexandria, Virginia, is simultaneously sponsoring hot meals on wheels programs, making and delivering hundreds of sandwiches and box loads of clothes, while visiting local hospitals and sending postcards to shut-ins and religious dissidents abroad.
Let us remember the families who maintain a watch for their missing in action. And, yes, let us remember all those who are persecuted inside the Soviet bloc -- not because they commit a crime, but because they love God in their hearts and want the freedom to celebrate Hanukkah or worship the Christ Child.
And because faith for us is not an empty word, we invoke the power of prayer to spread the spirit of peace. We ask protection for our soldiers who are guarding peace tonight -- from frigid outposts in Alaska and the Korean demilitarized zone to the shores of Lebanon. One Lebanese mother told us that her little girl had only attended school 2 of the last 8 years. Now, she said, because of our presence there her daughter can live a normal life.
With patience and firmness we can help bring peace to that strife-torn region and make our own lives more secure. The Christmas spirit of peace, hope, and love is the spirit Americans carry with them all year round, everywhere we go. As long as we do, we need never be afraid, because trusting in God is the one sure answer to all the problems we face.
Till next week, thanks for listening, God bless you, and Merry Christmas.


"Danny Peanuts" is a new children's book with an old story. The book came-to-be after the author's son (Skip Boyland aka "Peanuts") found it and published it as a tribute to his mother, Gail. Gail Boyland lived in Newburgh, New York, with her husband and four children. She was an excellent artist, incredible mother with a quirky sense of humor and iconic sense of style. She was best-known for entertaining the neighborhood children and taking care of injured birds, that is until her 2017 book debut. Around 1963, she wrote "Danny Peanuts" for her young son, Skip, who was very small for his age and eager to grow up.
"Danny Peanuts" was written and illustrated on a legal-size notepad by Gail Boyland. The pictures were drawn by hand with black ink. After more than 50 years in storage, each of the illustrations in this book had to be cleaned up. Color was added based on a smaller color version Gail Boyland had created. Care was used to maintain the authors original style.
Early reviews of "Danny Peanuts" harp on the positive message the book shares. According to Amy Poehler's Smart Girls, "Gail Boyland's 'Danny Peanuts' captures the essence of a child's struggles with being small in a full of judgment, transforming insecurity into positivity!" Most importantly, children reviewing the book have found their voice in it. "I recommend this book because it's good for people that are small and feel bad about it. It may inspire the[m] to not care if [they're] small or big," wrote a young "Danny Peanuts" reader.
Can you just imagine how proud Danny's mom would be today if she knew that he loved the book so much that he decided to publish it and share it with the world in hopes that it would help other children? She'd be so proud all over again.
Read more about "Danny Peanuts" on the official website.


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Shooting Spree
The New Threat to Peace Talks in Afghanistan
The shocking murder of 16 civilians by a U.S. sergeant has ignited anti-American furor, with calls for "revenge" from the Afghan Taliban and family members of the victims. Former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel on how a nascent peace process could be scuttled. Plus, Ron Moreau and Sami Yousafzai on the brewing backlash.
Jangir, AFP / Getty Images
The tragic killing of 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar this Sunday, apparently by an American soldier, will increase pressure to find a political solution to the Afghan war. Fortunately, there are some faint but important signs that such a process is more possible—but patience is essential to getting to any deal.
The NATO command needs to determine what happened in Kandahar—quickly—and take remedial action to ensure it cannot happen again. Coming right after the unintentional desecration of Qurans and the deaths of several NATO soldiers from rogue Afghan soldiers, this latest tragedy will further inflame anti-foreign sentiment in Afghanistan and strain ties between President Hamid Karzai government and his NATO allies.
Iran and Pakistan will stoke anti-Americanism. Pressure will build in Europe and America to withdraw faster from the Afghan war. With the anti-war socialists likely to win the French elections, we can anticipate at least one major NATO ally pulling out this year. But there are also significant indicators that the Afghan Taliban and their Pakistani patrons are more interested in a negotiating process than ever before. The Taliban has agreed to open an office in Qatar to facilitate talks and to allow five Taliban prisoners in Guantánamo to be transferred to Qatari control. It did not renounce the negotiations over the Quran crisis. If it does the same now—denouncing the killings but not renouncing talks—it will be a sign they are determined to pursue negotiations.
Why are they interested now? First, because they no longer see victory in sight. Three years ago, they did, because they had the upper hand throughout southern and eastern Afghanistan, and they calculated that their goal of retaking Kabul was a real possibility. That is no longer the case. They have lost the momentum on the battlefield, and the Afghan army (for all its faults) is an increasingly formidable opponent. So some in the Taliban may understand that even when NATO's combat troops depart, the civil war between Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaris will just continue. More war—not an easy victory—is not an attractive future for even the Taliban.
Second, the Afghan Taliban are also increasingly frustrated with their Pakistani patrons. A recent NATO study based on the interrogations of 4,000 captured insurgents demonstrated that the Taliban are totally dependent on the Pakistani army and its ISI spies for safe haven and sanctuary across the border. Without these havens the Taliban would be desperate.
Current and former ISI officers give the Taliban their marching orders and help assist with critical fundraising in Pakistan. The ISI also keeps the top leadership, like Mullah Omar, under their thumb and can pressure their families if they don't obey the ISI's orders. Not surprisingly, this breeds antagonism and frustration. The Afghans know they are being used by the ISI. Some want to be out from under the Pakistani boot.
The ISI is also in transition. Its new director general is General Zahir ul Islam. He's a former director of ISI's internal wing and was V Corps commander in Karachi, Pakistan's main port and mega city, until being tapped for DG/ISI. Karachi is a lawless city that needs peace badly to prosper. Zahir is also very close to army commander General Kayani (Pakistan's most powerful man) and may even succeed him as chief of army staff next year. The army allowed the Taliban to agree to the Qatar office and seems more open to a political process than previously. (The civilian government, led by President Zardari, welcomes talks, although it has no control of the Taliban or the ISI.) If Zahir wants to allow negotiations to proceed under careful ISI scrutiny, then talks about talks may lead to real talks.
Then the hard part begins. The Taliban has yet to break with al Qaeda and still cooperates with it in some eastern provinces. Last May the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's top leadership council, mourned Osama bin Laden's death and hailed him as an Islamic hero. The Taliban also still refuses to deal with Karzai and assassinated his top negotiator last fall. Tajiks, Uzbeks, and the Shia Hazaris (more than half of Afghans) are justifiably skeptical that the Pashtun Taliban and the ISI can be trusted.
Afghan women have the most to lose, of course, and fear any deal will be at their expense. Under NATO protection millions of Afghan girls go to school; none did when Mullah Omar ruled the country before 9/11. So any political process will require great patience and skill. It cannot be rushed to closure to satisfy those who want a quick end to the war.
It will also need a regional strategy that includes not only Pakistan but also key stakeholders like Iran and India. They can be spoilers if not brought into the process, even if only indirectly. So the best outcome in Afghanistan—a carefully developed political process that brings some or all of the Taliban to a ceasefire and a power-sharing arrangement supported by the neighbors—needs time and patience. It cannot happen overnight, especially when Afghan anger with America is at a dangerous peak.


Graphic design, branding and illustration studio based in Antwerp working on fresh and interesting projects for wide range of clients.
Su works across both print and digital design; Projects range from visual identities, publications, web designs and illustrations. She works closely with artists, cultural institutions, fashion brands, architects, restaurants and many other businesses.


Star Trek Silver Coin Series - In celebration of Star Trek: The Original Series celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Perth Mint released a special Star Trek bullion coin. This 1 oz Silver coin features the U.S.S. Enterprise flying through space, a sight familiar to Star Trek fans from all generations. This iconic bullion coin follows the mint's 2015 six-coin collectible Star Trek series, featuring colorized images from the various Star Trek series.
Star Trek has fascinated audiences with a myriad of series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Each Star Trek series has its ups and downs, but they always inspire us to push the boundaries of science, diplomacy and exploration. Many conventions and popular forums are devoted to Star Trek and its universe. The iconic theme song to the popular depiction of the U.S.S. Enterprise has pierced our hearts and minds forever, to be passed down to generation to generation. Star Trek is a science fiction series that everyone younger and older can appreciate.
To purchase coins from the Star Trek Silver coin series, browse APMEX's selection of Perth Mint Silver coins. You will find a variety of options in this category, from the first release of Captain Kirk to sets containing multiple Silver coins, and the classic Silver bullion coin.
Star Trek collectibles come in many forms, and you can own these unique Star Trek coins today. These Silver coins are one-of-a-kind, produced by one of the most prestigious mints in the world, the Perth Mint, known for producing some of the most popular coins in the world today. If you are a Trekkie, or even if you're not, you can add to your Star Trek coin collection at competitive Silver prices. Buyers can own a Silver Star Trek coin that covers famous images and captains from Captain Kirk to newer captains like John Luc Picard and Captain Archer from Enterprise. Other coins include images of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the iconic science officer Spock, Captain Cisco and Captain Janeway. There are several 2015 and 2016 Silver Star Trek coins from which to choose, providing options for collectors.
Star Trek coins from Perth Mint are high in quality and add value to any collection. The best thing about these coins is you don't have to be a Trekkie to fully appreciate them. Star Trek has been on television and the big screen for 50 years, and this category presents the perfect opportunity to collect a special Star Trek coin series. Relive epic moments from the series with quality made Silver products from the Perth Mint. APMEX offers everything from Silver coins to Star Trek proof sets. Order your 2015 and 2016 Star Trek Silver coins today!


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Motta Family
In December 1941, he won the prize for best soloist at the tournament of French jazz hopes, organized by the Hot Club de France, salle Pleyel in Paris. In 1943, he was sent to Vienna as part of the Service du Travail Obligatoire where he played in dance and jazz orchestras. He accompanies Roby Davis, saxophonist who is part of the Parisian jazzmen's circle (Combelle, etc.). When he returned in 1945-1946, he played in the orchestras of Hubert Rostaing and Tony Proteau. It can therefore be assumed that it was Rostaing who introduced him to Django for the 1946 registration session. He accompanied Django again in 1948, in Hubert Rostaing's sextet. Thereafter, Arthur Motta can be heard in jazz orchestras (those of Hubert Rostaing, Claude Bolling, Léo Chauliac, Pierre Gossez or his brother Armand Motta). He accompanies Elec Bacsik for a bossa nova record. He formed the Jet Quartet with Geo Daly and Jean Bouchety. He also produced typical music records (boleros etc.) under the name Arturo Motta and its chicaboums. The covers of these discs are from the same base as the original covers of Tchan Tchou's discs (I let you go see). For the anecdote, he is also a studio musician and replaces the original drummer of Les Chaussettes Noires on their first recordings (this drummer being apparently of a lower level).
Arthur's brother, René, is also a drummer and can be heard on some of Manouche Partie's songs (the other drummer is Mac-Kak Reilles). René's son, Patrick Motta, is also a drummer. At the Motta family, it's like at ASBA, we connect générations!
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A place to intervene Many emergency patients are at high risk for suicide. A new study finds that a specific intervention could reduce future attempts.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In a clinical trial involving nearly 1,400 suicidal patients in the emergency departments of eight hospitals, a team led by Brown University and Butler Hospital psychologist Ivan Miller found that a multifaceted intervention lowered the relative risk of new suicide attempts by 20 percent.
In results published in JAMA Psychiatry, emergency department (ED) patients who received the intervention composed of specialized screening, safety planning guidance and periodic follow-up phone check-ins made 30 percent fewer total suicide attempts compared to people who received standard ED care.
While suicide prevention efforts such as hotlines are well known, published controlled trials of specific interventions have been much rarer, Miller said. This report was one of several from the Emergency Department Safety Assessment and Follow-up Evaluation (ED-SAFE) study led by Miller, Professor Edwin Boudreaux of the University of Massachusetts and Dr. Carlos Camargo of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University. This study might be the largest intervention trial conducted so far in the U.S., Miller said. It focused on an especially high-risk group: emergency department patients who said they had engaged in suicidal ideation or had made an attempt within a week before their ED visit.
The trial took place in three phases to create three comparison groups. In the first phase, August 2010 to December 2011, 497 patients received each ED's usual treatment as a control group. In the second phase, September 2011 to December 2012, 377 patients received additional suicide screening. In the third phase, July 2012 to November 2013, 502 patients received the experimental intervention. Those patients received additional suicide screening from ED physicians, suicide prevention information from nurses and a personal safety plan that they could opt to fill out to be better prepared for times when they might begin to harbor suicidal thoughts again. Over the next year they also received brief, periodic phone calls from trained providers at Butler Hospital who would discuss suicide risk factors, personal values and goals, safety and future planning, treatment engagement, and problem solving.
The intervention was designed to directly involve a designated loved one whenever feasible, as well.
In all three phases, patients were briefly screened for suicidality at the ED and were also followed for a year with periodic assessment phone calls. Regardless of phase, patients who demonstrated a specific suicide risk during assessments were connected with the Boys Town suicide prevention hotline.
The number of suicide attempts and the proportion of people attempting suicide declined significantly in the intervention group compared to treatment as usual. The middle group, which received only additional screening, did not show a significant drop compared to the treatment as usual group.
Suicide attempts were not the only measure the researchers employed to understand the potential impact of the intervention. Fortunately, there were so few deaths by suicide among patients (only five total) that there could be no statistically valid conclusions drawn from that data point. But the researchers also created a broader suicide composite score which included not only attempts and deaths, but also interrupted or aborted attempts, and acts to prepare an attempt. Across the three groups, 46.3 percent of the patients reported one or more of these behaviors, but the relative risk declined significantly among people in the intervention compared to the usual care group (by 15 percent), but not among people who received screening alone.
While other interventions have also been found to reduce suicide risk, some of the most effective ones have involved providing patients with many hours of psychotherapy.
"This intervention was significantly less costly than most other interventions," he said. The research team is currently engaged in a cost-effectiveness analysis.
He noted that the intervention was associated with significant declines in suicide attempts, even though not every patient engaged in the full intervention (e.g. only 37.4 percent reported receiving a safety plan and nearly 40 percent did not complete a follow-up phone call). The intervention's apparent efficacy also persisted despite the study's ethical design, in which even people in the control phases received suicide prevention counseling that could have prevented an attempt if they presented an urgent need.
In further studies, the ED-SAFE team is looking at whether more intensive safety planning while patients are in the ED could help further. Miller and his colleagues are also conducting further tests of the phone follow-ups with patients from Butler Hospital and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
In addition to Miller, Boudreak and Camargo, the paper's other authors are Drs. Sarah Arias and Richard Jones of Brown; Ashley Sullivan, Janice Espinola and Dr. Kohei Hasegawa of Massachusetts General Hospital; Dr. Michael Allen of the University of Colorado; Dr. Amy Goldstein of the National Institutes of Health; and Dr. Anne Manton of Cape Cod Healthcare. Drs. Lisa Uebelacker, Brandon Gaudiano and Lauren Weinstock of Brown University also contributed to the work.


Protein Chip is a technique of tracking the activities of proteins. This technique is used for monitoring the expression of the protein and determining the function of large number of protein in a single experiment. Protein chip consists of a surface such as nitrocellulose membrane, microtitre plate, glass slide, and bead. This surface helps in tracking all the activities of proteins. These Protein chips are economical, automated, rapid, highly sensitive and capable of tracking minute quantities of reagents/ sample. The application of protein chip includes antibody characterization, analysis of protein functions, proteomics, and diagnostics. Protein chips also overcome the major restraint of the conventional DNA microarray. DNA microarray was unable to monitoring the level of gene expression in proteomics. Protein chip is a replacement for most of the traditional techniques such as chromatography, DNA microarray, etc.
The major factors that are driving the growth of the market are rising rate of incidences of cancer and increasing practice for advanced technology in diagnostic test. In addition, rising awareness about personalized medicines is also contributing to the growth of the market. However, complex technicalities associated with the protein chips is the major factor that is hampering the growth of the Protein Chip market. Increasing advancement in the Protein Chip technology is resulting in improved economies of some of the regions such as Asian countries. This factor is expected to create a lot of opportunities for the enlargement and expansion of the market.
Protein Chip technology market is segmented into reverse phase protein microarray, functional protein microarray and analytical microarray. Functional protein microarray segment is the largest revenue generating segment due to increased rate of cancer incidences. Functional protein microarray has broad range of applications in advanced diagnostics for cancer.
Protein Chip application market is segmented into antibody characterization, protein functional analysis, proteomics and diagnostics. Proteomics is the largest revenue generating segment due to its broad spectrum of applications such as Spectroscopy, X-ray Crystallography, Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid Chromatography, Electrophoresis, SPR (Surface Plasmon Resonance) Systems, and Protein Fractionation System. Proteomics has a market share of more than half in the Protein Chip Market.
Protein Chip Geography Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. North America, followed by Europe, is the largest revenue generating segment due to increasing number of patients, rising aging population and high demand for advanced techniques such as molecular-based diagnosis.
The key strategies adopted by the companies to expand in the Protein Chip market are product expansion, mergers & acquisitions and agreements & collaborations. These strategies would provide efficient products and yield strong performing products that support the market regulations and finally, exhibit better customer satisfaction. Top market players include Agilent Technologies, Affymetrix Inc., Sigma Aldrich Corporation, SEQUENOM, Life Technologies Corporation, IIIumina Inc., and EMD Milipore.
Report presents detailed analysis of Protein Chip market using Porter's five forces model. According to porter's analysis, the bargaining power of the supplier is high due to high cost of switching. The bargaining power of buyer is low due to the specialized products of Protein Chip market. The threat of substitute is low due to unavailability of alternate products.
Protein Chip market is segmented on the basis of technology, application and geography.


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WEDDINGS LIKE YOURS
Dancing on the Mountaintops
Kelly + Matt |
A mountaintop engagement session for an adventurous couple near Charlotte, North Carolina
In the current world of dating, dating apps are becoming more and more popular and successful, at that. It was certainly successful for Kelly and Matt who met on an app in January 2017.
The first date wasn't even over before Kelly was texting her then roommate that she thought she might have found the one. It didn't take Matt much longer to also tell his then roommate the same thing.
"During our first date, I texted my best friend and told her, 'I think this is my guy,'" said the bride-to-be. "I felt an overwhelming at peace feeling when I was with him and just knew!"
Matt knew it would be difficult to surprise Kelly with an engagement, but he was determined to make it happen. After just over a year of dating, Matt went to Kelly's dad to ask for his permission to marry Kelly. Three months later, Matt was still waiting for the perfect moment.
"We had been talking about marriage for a while and Matt knew how hard I would be to surprise," Kelly explained. "He actually asked my dad if he could marry me back in February and come May my dad was wondering if Matt had changed his mind!"
Matt certainly did not change his mind and in June, he finally had the perfect plan. After spending the day helping Matt's sister move, the three of them made a plan to meet at Freedom Park in Charlotte to relax a little. They did this often, so Kelly didn't think anything of it. She still didn't think anything of it even after Matt suggested she change into jeans to go to the park in, rather than the workout pants she usually wears. Which she didn't do, by the way.
While waiting for Matt's sister to join them, the couple started talking about the next trip they would take together since they love traveling. They were looking at a map with some locations Matt had made some notes on when Matt suddenly claimed he forgot one. He went back into his backpack to pull out another map and handed it to Kelly. Puzzled, Kelly looked at the map of North Carolina she was handed and before she realized there was an engagement ring drawn around Charlotte, Matt was down on one knee with a real engagement ring in his hands.
After the proposal, the couple went to their favorite dinner spot for sushi and then back to the very first spot they went on a date, where Matt surprised Kelly with all their family and friends waiting to celebrate with them.
When it came time to do engagement pictures, they knew the mountains would be the perfect spot.
"We chose the mountains because they have always been one of our go-to adventure spots," said Kelly. "The peaceful feeling that we have when we are in the mountains reminds us of the ease and peace we feel in our relationship and therefore we just knew we had to get our pictures taken there!"
When Matt pulled Kelly into his arms and started dancing with her on the mountaintop, it was a moment Kelly will never forget and luckily, thanks to Sunshower Photography she never can.
"There were only a few other people at the lookout, but we were the only two actually out on the ridge and it really felt like the world had stopped in that moment," Kelly said. "It was a great intimate memory to share with my fiancé and I'm so glad it was captured on film."
Sunshower Photography scouted out the perfect spots to capture the most amazing pictures. It wasn't just the backdrop and scenery that made the pictures so amazing, but the love and emotion that was captured so perfectly on camera.
We can't wait to see the love and emotion that is captured on their wedding day!
Looking for a wedding day photographer to capture amazing engagement pictures like these? Check out Sunshower Photography HERE!
Sunshower Photography
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