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⚠WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CAN BE TRIGGERING TO SOME VIEWERS. SWEARING, DEATH, ABUSE, ETC. BE AWARE! IF YOU ARE TRIGGERED EASILY, PLEASE SKIP THE BEGINNING PART OF THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE CONTINUE WITH CAUTION.⚠
The end of the graphic part will have this: ~~~~
🦋Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if they deserve it... Don't allow their anger to become your anger.🦋
In the city of Tokyo, Japan, inside of an apartment was owned by a person who is still in their youth. A cold, still, lifeless body was laying on top of a bed, who appears to be a female.
Eyes were wide opened to the point you can see the size of them. Her veins were showing inside of them, showing their red true colors that you could see in the darkroom. The once bright crystal blue hues are now dull and grey, staring up at the white ceiling fan turning at a slow pace as it made a creaking sound with each turn it took.
The body was sprawled out and their mouth was wide opened with a dry tear stain has a trail on her face, from her eyes down to her ears and neck.
Sheets unorganized and pieces of glass shattered on the ground.
"It looks like there's been a fight of some sort. Look at the shattered glass over here. And there's also some bruises on her skin, right here," he took his hand and pointed at her forearms, "and right here... She's been strangled," he said pointing towards the female's neck.
"Seems like she was trying to fight them off."
Flashes of light from cameras were being taken from investigators as they held cameras taking pictures of the crime scene.
"Drugs were also involved. Here, come take a look at this." The man held up a bottle while his hands were covered in gloves so he wouldn't get any of his fingerprints on the plastic bottle.
The woman hummed and wrote it down before taking it out of his hands and placing it into a small zip lock bag.
"I'm going to take this down to the station. Meet me there when you get more information on what you discovered."
"Right."
The lady passed boy the bodies as some chat and others took pictures and inspected the apartment building looking for more evidence. She made her way out of the door and later making it inside of a car before going down to her office trying to search for more information about the case at hand.
"Good morning to my viewers! This is channel nineteen. This morning there has been a tragedy in the city of Tokyo. A woman was brutally murdered in her own home. She appeared to be strangled and stabbed to death. Family members have joined us early today speaking on their behalf, reflecting on their daughter's death," the news reporter said looking at the screen.
The screen turned to another channel revealing to an older couple. The woman standing beside her husband, holding tissue up towards her eyes, dabbing away her tears. While the man's lips quivered while looking at the camera with a devastating look.
"Our daughter didn't deserve any of this. She was always a sweet girl and didn't do any wrong. She always stuck to her studies and always did what was right," the man took in a deep breath and held onto his wife.
"She always did what she needed to do. After she would get off from work she would come home and call us telling us about her day."
The woman stepped up and held her husband closer with tears streaming down her red cheeks.
"Connie was such a sweet angel. The last call we received from her was her losing her position at her job," she sobbed.
She willed her eyes and looked at the camera with anger in her eyes. "If her boss has anything to do with this, he needs to step up and tell us all he knows or if he knows anything about this. We need justice for our little girl!"
The channel changed back to the news reporter reflecting on what was said by her parents.
"Yes, the death of Connie Hathaway is devastating news. There will be more investigation on this case to find more information on who killed Connie.
If you happen to know any information to help solve this case, please call the number that is presented on the screen to speak to the sheriff department."
It was at the beginning of a new month entirely.
February 9th.
Everything was going well for you so far. Over time you've gotten closer with Ray and spent time with your friends, Gilda and Emma whenever you had the opportunity to.
Of course, you couldn't spend too much time with them because of your position at your job, having many errands to run, and then ending up coming to your apartment late, exhausted.
But you had to keep a level head for yourself so you can manifest great things for the future. You had to
work for what you want in life. As long as you stayed on the right path and kept your focused straight, you shouldn't get distracted and wander off of the path.
You hummed a soft tune while you stood in line waiting for one of the workers to tell you that your order is ready. You looked down at your phone and scrolled through social media not having anything else to do at the moment.
So why not keep yourself occupied by doing something "productive".
Or at least to seem like you were doing something.
"Y/n?"
You look up from your phone and put your phone in your purse before walking up to the register and picking up your order.
You grabbed your things giving the girl a quick 'thank you and made your way out of the building.
You went inside of your car and placed the drinks inside of the cup holder making everything balanced so nothing wouldn't spill inside of your car.
The last thing you wanted was to spill any sticky substances.
You brought Ray a cup of coffee along with a croissant sandwich for breakfast that contains eggs, bacon, and cheese. And also the same for Krone, since she was also considerate enough to bring you breakfast all those mornings.
As for yourself, you brought yourself some French toast, bacon, and eggs along with green tea.
You tried to keep the bag sealed as much as you could so you wouldn't make yourself hungry in the car. If you get one quick whiff of the food, you were most likely going to stop on the side of the road and eat your food right then and there.
Ray was the one who insisted that you go on ahead and by yourself something early this morning since he heard your stomach growling and rumbling while you were filling out papers.
But little did he knew that you brought him something also. It wasn't much but you wanted to return him a kind offer.
This act was genuine.
You knew that he was also tired from work and he was starving himself. So you wanted to at least help him.
After all, being stressed wasn't healthy. It can affect you mentally and physically.
Before you knew it, there you were. In the parking lot in front of Ray's building. Thinking about him made you smile softly.
You remembered that day when you first started to be his secretary and how he admitted that he cares for you.
The both of you weren't together but at least you knew that you could get together later on in the future. The only thing you had to do was be patient.
He had to work somethings out before he becomes fully committed to being involved with you. Things were a little tense for him.
Which was understandable.
You grabbed the bags along with the drinks in the cup holder and placed them on the roof of your car before shutting your door and locking it behind you two times to make sure that it was completely secured.
You pulled on your handle to see if it was locked and hummed softly.
"Okay," you mumbled.
You put your keys in your purse and hoisted it up further up your shoulder. You grabbed the bags and the cup holder once again and made your way to the front of the building going inside.
You looked around and saw that nobody was in the lobby. You looked around a couple of more times and raised your eyebrows while pursing your lips.
"I guess everyone is busy..."
You went to the elevator and went up to you where your office was and placed your things down. You passed by Emma's office, giving her a small wave which she returned and made your way to Krone's one.
You knocked gently on the opened door, grabbing the older lady's attention. She looked up from her work and smiled at you.
"Good morning Krone!"
"Good morning hun," she hummed with a warm smile. "What brings you here?" She looked at you and then towards the bags and drinks that you had in your possession.
You raised one bag and grabbed a sandwich that was wrapped neatly, while walking over towards her desk, handing it to her.
"I brought you breakfast. It's a croissant sandwich. I heard that it takes really good, it looks and smells good so..." you said with a smile on your face.
"Oh thank you, Y/n! You're too sweet," she said with a smile.
"No problem. I wanted to return the offer since you always bring breakfast for me. I wanted to do the same for you."
Before you gave her the chance to speak, you spoke once more. I would love to chat with you longer but I have to go now. Sorry for leaving so suddenly, I just need to get to Ray before he gets cranky like an old man," you laughed.
She laughed along with you and nodded her head in understanding. "Well, go ahead! I can always speak to you another time, have a nice day," Krone said waving you off.
"Okay and same to you."
You went into the elevator again and click the button to arrive at Ray's office. The elevator door opens and reveals three people inside of the office.
Your eyes first darted towards the two males who were sitting on the couch while looking up at the TV that was on the wall of the room.
Norman and Ray.
And the female was standing behind them while leaning on the edge of the couch.
She was a little more leaned over up upon Ray's side than she was in the middle, and this didn't sit well with you.
A small frown made its way on your face. You couldn't stop nor hide the frown that was on your face so you bit your bottom lip, trying to hide that the corners of your lips were pointing downwards.
The ash-blonde female look towards you and raised her eyebrows. "Oh hey, Y/n!"
You purse your lips together and then rubbed them when you saw all three of the body's attention was now on you.
"Hey...," you said awkwardly. "What are you doing?" You asked the three of them.
"We're watching the news," Ray said looking from you and then towards the TV with a stressed look.
"What happened?" You asked walking closer towards them and taking a look at what was being presented on the flat-screen TV.
"One of our workers died. You just missed it," Norman said in a regretful tone.
"Huh?" You asked alarmed. "What who is it? When did it happen?"
"It was Conny Hathaway, my ex-secretary," Ray said raking his hand through this hair in worry. "She passed away last night. It looks like someone murdered her, according to the news..."
You looked at him in horror. It felt like bile was rising from your stomach to your throat and you swallowed it back down.
"Oh, God..."
"Yeah," Anna said with a saddened look.
"I feel bad for her and her family. Who knows what they are going through," Norman said standing up.
"Yeah. But they don't have a right to blame Ray for all of this. It wasn't his fault," Anna said placing her hand on Ray's shoulders.
You watched as she gently rubbed her hands on his broad shoulders but the action stops immediately as he moved away from her as he stood up from the couch.
"Of course not," he grumbled.
"Yeah," Norman said looking from his friend and towards you. "Conny's parents believe that Ray has something to do with her death. There's no doubt he will have to go through interrogation."
You hummed and sigh.
"Well, we better get going. I still have more paperwork to do," Norman said stuffing his hands in his pockets making his way to the elevator.
"Yeah," Anna agreed. She looked towards Ray and smiled. "I'll talk to you later to check up on you okay?"
Your jaw clenched slightly as you watched her being friendly towards Ray. It wasn't as if you were together but there was something between the two of you.
It wasn't like Anna knew what was said between the both of you but still, it hurts seeing another woman being near him.
Or maybe you're just overreacting. You didn't want to seem like a jealous brat.
Ray looked at her with an uninterested and unbothered look with a small frown on his face and his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Anna, come one before the door closes," Norman said while holding the door. He looked at his friend and gave him a sympathetic look.
He looked towards you and waved.
"See you later Y/n!"
When the door closed you looked at Ray with a small smile.
27. Chapter 26
2 Chapter 1
10 Chapter 9
11 Chapter 10
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Posts Tagged 'Seinfeld'
That Unforgettable Time I Saw My First Broadway Play ('Three Sisters') with a Who's Who of Actors Including Jerry Stiller
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Broadway, Chekhov, Jerry Stiller, New York City, Roundabout Theatre Company, Seinfeld, Three Sisters on May 12, 2020|
When I heard yesterday that actor Jerry Stiller died, I didn't immediately think of his Emmy winning performance on Seinfeld, I went to Broadway and Chekhov. It was 1997 and my first trip to New York City and seeing my first Broadway play. And it was magical.
I don't have anything to add to the many obituaries on Stiller, but as a way to celebrate his life in theater, I've scanned the Playbill from his performance as one of the actors in Three Sisters.
Stiller was joined by an incredible cast that included Robert Bogue, Billy Crudup, Calista Flockhart, Paul Giamatti, David Marshall Grant, Ben Hammer, Amy Irving, Betty Miller, Eric Stoltz, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Justin Theroux, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.
Never before or since have I seen more talented people on stage in the same play. And since it was a matinee performance they did a Q&A with some of the actors afterwards and I snuck in a question.
It was a weekend of not only connecting with actors, and the writings of the great Russian playwright, the crew, the Roundabout Theatre Company, and a Times Square building that was built in 1895, but it was a whirlwind weekend of being fully alive.
We celebrated my wife's birthday weekend and Valentine's Day by with a horse carriage ride through central park, ate at an Italian restaurant, went to a concert at Carnegie Hall, made a stop at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, did a boat tour with glorious views of the Stature of Liberty and the Twin Towers, toured Ellis Island and went to the top of the Empire State Building and somehow found time to sleep at Waldorf Astoria.
I was 36-years-old and had dreamed of a trip like that for probably 10 or 15 years. I was a long way from my youth of playing football barefoot on a dead-end street in Central Florida.
It's been a while since I've seen or read Three Sisters, but I remember it as a play about spiritual longings for hope the the midst of despair. A time when all of the mysteries of life will disappear. At the end of the play Irina is comforted by her older sister who says, "It seems as if a little while more we shall know why we live, why we suffer … If we only knew, if we only knew."
And that is why Chekhov's writings from the late 1800s could resonate on Broadway in 1997, today, or a hundred years from now.
P.S. It appears that Stiller's 1997 performance in Three Sisters was his last stage play performance and the same year he won an Emmy for his role on Seinfeld.
Failure—Failure—Wild Success (Larry David's Journey to Co-creating 'Seinfeld')
Posted in screenwriting, tagged Larry David, Seinfeld, WGA on August 8, 2018| 2 Comments »
"I hate all kinds of writing."
Before Larry David created Seinfeld with Jerry Seinfeld, he failed to impress his parents or comedy club audiences with his comic genius:
I told my parents about wanting to be a comedian and my mother said, 'You're not funny, Larry. I've never heard you say anything funny.' And my father backed her up, 'She's right, she's right. You're not funny. Why do you think you're funny? You're not funny.' So, I started doing [stand up comedy] . . . but I was not all that successful. My therapist at the time said I wasn't really temperamentally suited for it for the simple reason that if the audience didn't laugh I would scream and curse them.
'You stupid, f–king morons. You don't know anything!' I remember even walking the streets in New York looking for good spots to live in case I ever became homeless. I would mentally note them. Yeah, yeah, 44th between 5th and 6th. Good steam vent, there's an overhang. I got to remember this. I bombed all the time. Got heckled unmercifully. People threw things at me. I wallowed in self-pity. 'Why me? Why? Why can't I do anything? I don't understand. It's not fair.'
"And then in 1988, Jerry Seinfeld asked me to develop a show with him. I'd never written a half hour before. I didn't even know the format. The number of pages, I had no idea what I was doing."
Larry David, creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld
2010 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television acceptance speech
(H/T Speakola)
P.S. Larry David not only avoided being homeless, but today his net worth—thanks to the syndication deal of Seinfeld alone—is estimated in the mid-hundreds of millions of dollars.
Screenwriting from Alaska (Palin Inspired)
Posted in screenwriting, Screenwriting Road Trips, tagged 2008 Oscars, Alaska, Cedar Falls, Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, Chris in Morning, David Mamet, Democratic National Convention, Dennis Hopper, Diane English, Doug Flutie, Dr. Joel Fleischman, Erin Brockovich, Eskimo, Gary Ross, Goethe, Greg brown, Grizzly Man, Hail Mary pass, Hilary Clinton, Into the Wild, Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Iris Dement, Jack London, Janie Turner, Jimmy Stewart, John McCain, John McCain picks VP running mate, John Milius, Johnny Horton's number one hit North to Alaska, Jon Krakauer, Jon Stewart, KBHR, Key West, Maggie O'Connell, Martin Luther King Jr., MFA, Miami Hurricanes, Murphy Brown, Nanook of the North, Northern Exposure, NX, Obama, Obama-Palin ticket, palin northern exposure, Pulitzer Prize winner John McPhee's Coming into the Cou, Robert Flaherty, Sarah Palin, Seal Beach, Sean Penn, Seinfeld, Sept 11, Susannah Grant, The Twlight Zone, Todd Palin, Univ. Of Iowa, Warner Herzog, Wasila, Yup'ik Eskimo on August 30, 2008| 3 Comments »
"I finally figured out we are somewhere between the end of the line and the middle of nowhere."
Dr. Joel Fleischman
Northern Exposure
Goethe's final words: "More light." Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry: "More light." Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlight. Neon. Incandescent. Lights that banish the darkness from our caves, to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerator."
Chris in Morning
KBHR, Cicely, Alaska
When Sarah (Barracuda) Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate it was textbook solid screenwriting inspired. A nice twist in the story. If it were a movie and she ends up VP I'd call it Mrs. Palin Goes to Washington. Kind of a remake of the Jimmy Stewart classic.
How do you offset the first African-American presidential candidate who makes his acceptance speech before more than 80,000 people at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on 45th anniversary to the day of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech? How do you offset Obama being raised by a single mom and forgoing a Wall Street career to do social work on the south side of Chicago?
How do you take advantage of millions of women who are upset that Hillary Clinton is not the presidential or VP candidate? How does McCain avoid being seen as just rich and elitist and out of touch with the countries economic problems?
You head north…to Alaska, that's what you do. You choose their female governor as your running mate. A "hockey mom" with five kids (pro-family) including one with Downs Syndrome (pro-life) , a moose hunter (NRA), whose husband is part Yup'ik Eskimo (multiethnic) and a commercial fisherman (working class) and union worker (union), whose parents were teachers (middle class), who has faith (evangelicals), who has brought reform to government there (change), who fought the "bridge to nowhere" (fiscally responsible), whose son joined the Army last year on September 11 (patriotism), and who comes from an area more than 3,500 miles from Washington D.C. (beltway outsider).
As a former broadcaster she is media savvy and can read a teleprompter. And her selection as the first VP GOP candidate came on the 88th anniversary of women being allowed to vote. And to top it off the former Miss Wasilla has the whole sexy librarian thing going on with the glasses and wearing her hair up.
I'll leave it to others to debate whether she's qualified for the White House, but there is no debate she has a heck of a story. And stories outside L.A. is what this blog is all about.
Is choosing Palin a Hail Mary pass by McCain? If so, he's old enough to remember when Doug Flutie's desperation pass beat the mighty Miami Hurricanes back in '84. Sometimes the high risk pass works.
And for the media, picking Palin is a slice of Hollywood. A political narrative full of conflict. Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Palin's candidacy "will be either dramatically successful or dramatically not; it won't be something in between."
We know screenwriter Gary Ross (Big, Seabiscuit) has written presidential speeches for the Democrats. The talent pool of Republican or conservative screenwriters is not quite as deep (99 to 1?), but I wonder what writer or filmmaker they've employed. (Perhaps John Milius, Clint Eastwood, Dennis Hopper or David Mamet.)
Maybe it was Hillary's Hollywood people (Spielberg or Murphy Brown creator Diane English) suggestion since a Republican victory is Mrs. Clinton's only chance to make a run in '12.
No matter the outcome of the election, from a dramatic standpoint McCain couldn't have written a better script. Well, Palin could have been born in Cedar Falls, Iowa to an African-American mother and a Hispanic father and have captured Bigfoot last week–but let's not get carried away.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
Alaska has been at the heart of many good stories as well as being full of folklore. Say, did you hear the "Little known facts" about Palin? "The Northern Lights are really just the reflection from Sarah Palin's eyes." "Sarah Palin doesn't need a gun to hunt. She has been known to throw a bullet through an adult bull elk." (Do you know how long it took for Chuck Norris to get that kind of street cred? She did it in one day.)
On second thought, Sarah Palin appears to have more in common with Erin Brockovich than she does Jimmy Stewart. ("You may want to re-think those ties." Erin, in the movie written by Susannah Grant.) But let's get back to Alaska.
Stories do flow from Alaska; Jack London's Call of the Wild, Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, Never Cry Wolf, and Christopher Nolan's Insomnia written by Hilary Seltz , Pulitzer Prize winner John McPhee's Coming into the Country, Johnny Horton's number one hit North to Alaska, documentaries by Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North) and Warner Herzog (Grizzly Man) and more recently the Sean Penn movie Into the Wild from the Jon Krakauer book.
But my favorite set of stories that are Alaska-based is what I think of as one of the all-time great TV programs – Northern Exposure. (In my book it's right up there with The Twilight Zone and Seinfeld.) Though the show was filmed in Roslyn, Washington it retains the feel of a small eccentric, creative town you'd like to think exists in Alaska. Some say it is based on the quirky little town of Talkeetna, Alaska and others say the quirky town of Ely, Minnesota, a town near the Canadian border in the Boundary Waters.
In part because of my love for the show I've been to Roslyn, Talkeetna and Ely. (However, I've never been to Moosefest.) I do think the show Northern Exposure in part lead me to Cedar Falls, Iowa. Growing up in Florida steeped on Jimmy Buffett's songs about Key West, the Caribbean, and paradise mixed with a heavy dose of Walt Disney's version of Main Street, I think I have always been looking for my own personal Margaritaville. (A place where "My old red bike gets me 'round.")
Even if you didn't get into Northern Exposure you'd have to give it points for originality. Where else in the history of TV have you seen two people arm wrestle over the doctrine of transubstantiation or see someone have a conversation with a human-sized dust mite? And isn't there a little spunky Maggie O'Connell (Janie Turner) in Palin? Yes, Palin even owns a float plane. I'm sure Noexers (as fans of the show are called) have already connected John & Cindy McCain with the older/younger couple Shelly & Holling.
Is it more than a coincidence that one of the co-creators of Northern Exposure went to college just a little over an hour from Cedar Falls? John Falsey is one more MFA graduate from the Iowa Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa. The Emmy, Peabody, Golden Globe winning producer/writer also worked on St. Elsewhere, The White Shadow and I'll Fly Away. (I don't know much of what he's done in the last decade. "Where have you gone John Falsey?" Maybe he cashed in and moved to his own personal Cicely, Alaska.)
And I guess this blog is my own little version of Northern Exposures resident radio DJ Chris in the Morning (John Corbett). Trying to do my best to wax philosophically while making odd connections.
Cedar Falls is a little bigger than Cicely Alaska, but it's got enough characteristics to feel similar and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than Key West, FL, Seal Beach, CA, or Crested Butte, CO. No oceans or mountains here (though we do have a river and killer bike trails) but we have a perfect view of the political process as I pointed out in Politics, Power & Screenwriting.
I'm sure will see plenty of Mrs. Palin which will make up for all the times I saw Obama last year. (I think the guy was stalking me.) If John McCain and Sarah Palin don't make it to the White House I think they could have shots at a career in Hollywood. At least a reality show.
And whoever is our next president I wish they add to their packed political campaign platform a decree for films to be better. Yesterday I walked out of two movies in one day for the first time in my life. On second thought, that's really not the government's job–it's yours, so get busy writing.
And just to tie this all together as we say goodbye for now you might not know that the beautiful, haunting song that was played at the end of the last episode of Northern Exposure was written and performed by Iris DeMent — a folk artist who is married to another folk artist named Greg Brown from Iowa City and where I believe they both now live.
If you've never heard "Our Town" or if it's been a while since you've heard it, do yourself a favor and listen to the link below. The song resonates every bone of my body and I hope it hits a nerve or two for you. (And if you've never seen the show at all check it out because it is a fine example of great writing.)
September 4 Update: From a public speaking perspective you'd have to pull for an Obama-Palin ticket. Palin: "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?.. Lipstick." Great writing and great delivery. All of this reminds me of that great Jon Stewart quip at the 2008 Oscars: "Normally when you see a black man or a woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty."
Copyright 2008 Scott W. Smith
Don't Waste Your Life (part 3)
Posted in screenwriting, tagged 911, Barry Bonds, Bob Marley, Britney Spears, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Cedar River, Cheers, Christopher Reeves, Cup 'O Joe, Diablo Cody, Drew Barrymore, Family Ties, Finding Nemo, Five Feet High and Rising, flooding in iowa, Galleria de Paco, Into Thin Air, Iowa Caucuses, Jack Johnson. Good People, Jay Leno, Jerry Maguire, John Kennedy Jr., Johnny Cash, Jon Krakauer, Kenneth Lay (Enron), LA Law, Mandate Pictures, Michael J. Fox, Michael Vick, Midwest floods, Mike Tyson, Mount Everest, Muhammad Ali, NBC, NBC Nightly News, NBC Today Show, New York Times, Nrandon Tartikoff, Paco Rosic, Parkersburg Tornado, Parkinson's Disease, Princess Diana, River Run Productions, Rocky, Seinfeld, shalom, Superman, The Cosby Show, The Hub, The Princess Bride, The Shawshank Redemption, Three Little Birds, Time Magazine, Titanic, Tom Cruise, Vinton Iowa, Waterloo, Whip It on June 10, 2008|
"Trouble, oh we got trouble, Right here in River City!"
Music Man, written by Iowa native Meredith Willson
How high's the water, mama?
Five feet high and risin'
I was supposed to get my haircut today…that didn't happen.
When the morning begins with a segment of the NBC Today Show in Cedar Falls, Iowa you know there's trouble in River City. Just two blocks from my office the Cedar River flows. In fact, we chose the name River Run Productions for our company because we saw the river as a metaphor that runs though Iowa and eventually into the Mississippi which eventually runs into the Gulf of Mexico and around the world.
Little did we know when we launched in January of '07 that just four months later I would be doing a shoot in Brazil including flying in a seaplane over the meeting of the waters where the Amazon and Rio Negro Rivers meet.
But back in Cedar Falls today it was a long day of partaking along with hundreds (thousands?) of volunteers (including my partner who lost his home in the Parkersburg tornado two weeks ago) filling and placing sandbags trying to keep the river at bay. So far it's been working to protect the downtown area, though many people in the low lying areas have evacuated and much of their homes underwater. And the river is not supposed to crest until sometime tomorrow.
Somewhere between moving boxes of photographs and memories to the basement Saturday night due to a tornado warning and taking the same boxes upstairs this morning in case of flooding, one can't help but examine what you really need in your life.
I took all of these photos today and will give updates in coming days and then bring it full circle in regard to screenwriting and life.
Wednesday June 11, 2008 Update
The sandbagging on Tuesday paid off in Cedar Falls as the river crested at 2 AM with the downtown being spared from any flooding despite a record level of 102 feet. I drove over to Waterloo to help artist & friend Paco Rosic with his battle to hold back the flooding there from his restaurant/studio. Without much sleep in the last two night he and his father are winning the battle when most have given up. Here are some shots of the front, inside (the multiple cords going to several water pumps), and view from the back of Galleria De Paco (voted this year as the #1 attraction in Iowa).
Thursday June 12, 2008 Update
Where'd all the good people go?
I've been changin' channels
I don't see them on the tv shows
The secret's out, Jack. A lot of those good people are in Iowa. They're even on tv. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams showed some of them in last night's broadcast, including a nurse who volunteered in the morning after working an all-night shift in an intensive care unit. All told, I heard 5,000 people and 250,000 sandbags filled and placed on the levee helped keep the river back in downtown Cedar Falls. (Not that I put myself in the good people category, but I did make a brief cameo on the NBC segment in a non-speaking role as "Volunteer passing sandbag in white long sleeve t-shirt and camera strap around front.")
It appears the worst is over in Cedar Falls but problems continue to mount in Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City and in other cites across Iowa and the Midwest. All of this reminds me of a quote from Steve Brown who I produced a video for in Nashville a couple years ago:
"The one thing I've learned is every day the world rolls over on top of someone who was just sitting on top of it yesterday."
I don't think a week goes by when I don't think of that quote. I used to keep a list I called the roll over club. It contained names like John Kennedy Jr., Princess Diana, Mike Tyson, Kenneth Lay (Enron), Michael Vick, Britney Spears, Barry Bonds…you get the picture.
The point is things change quickly when your sitting on top of the world. I'm fond of pointing to Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air where after reaching the peak of Mount Everest exhausted he took a few pictures and then began his decent. Krakauer writes, "All told, I'd spent less than five minutes on the roof of the world."
Over the years I've seen many people who were at the top of the world before it began to roll: Muhammad Ali, Christopher Reeves, and Michael J. Fox come to mind. Ali continually reminded us that he was "the greatest" though he had to recant that later, when Reeves died due to complications from a horse riding accident that had left him paralyzed one headline read, "Superman Dies," and Fox had an amazing dream year in his early 20's when he was the star of the top rated TV program that he shot in the day and then went to his night job shooting "Back to the Future" that would become a #1 box office hit long before his career and life took a blow as he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.
And in 1990 The New York Times ran an article on The Man Who Own Prime Time about Brandon Tartikoff who had become the youngest person ever to be chosen the head programmer of a network at 31 and rose to become president of NBC Entertainment. Under his leadership NBC flourished with a string of successes including Cheers, The Cosby Show, LA Law, Family Ties and Seinfeld and for one incredible five year run NBC was the No. 1 Network for five consecutive seasons. Seven years after that article appeared Tartiloff died at age 48 from Hodgkin's disease.
Despite human's great accomplishments, the above stories and this recent flood are reminders of how fragile we are.
Whatever mountain top you are reaching for know that if you are one of the fortunate ones who gets to the summit you don't get to stay up there very long. An acting teaching once told me "When your feet hit the ground in the morning if you don't want to be an actor more than anything then don't pursue it because it's too hard to make it and too hard to stay if you do make it. So unless you love acting it's not worth it." That's great advise for the screenwriter as well.
In the June 5 issues of Time magazine there is an article called "How to Live Live With Just 100 Things." Lisa Mclaughlin writes, 'Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive." Dave Bruno started what he calls "the 100 Thing Challenge, a grass-roots movement in which otherwise seemingly normal folks are pledging to whittle down their possessions to a mere 100 items."
Maybe trading in your multiple piece spoon, fork and knife set for a spork won't bring the Jewish concept of Shalom or peace (what Cornelius Plantinga Jr. calls "universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight…Shalom, in other words is the way things ought to be.") But maybe it's a step in the direction of that happy ending we all seek.
I think that is the single greatest reasons why movie audiences yearn for (in some cases demand) a happy ending. Because one of the deepest longings in life is to find shalom. Look at many of the films people return to again and again (The Shawshank Redemption, Titanic, The Princess Bride, Star Wars, Finding Nemo, Rocky, The Wizard of Oz) and you will find this concept over and over again. Most (all?) films at least show a small corner of shalom or it's opposite, a world lived outside the garden.
Who doesn't want to have that moment of clarity that Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire has as he writes his mission statement and says, "It was the me I'd always wanted to be"?
Often it takes an event like a flood, 9-11 or a death in the family, or a personal illness to get our attention. Out of difficult times we need to have hope that there is a purpose and meaning to our suffering. Let's not forget those who have lost greatly in the recent tornadoes and floods and pitch in where we can. And in time we'll hear stories from this flood about how good things came out of the calamity.
Just like the Johnny Cash song Five Feet High and Risin':
My mama always taught me that good things come from adversity if we put our faith in the Lord.
We couldn't see much good in the flood waters when they were causing us to have to leave home,
But when the water went down, we found that it had washed a load of rich black bottom dirt across our land. The following year we had the best cotton crop we'd ever had.
Sunday June 15, 2008 Update
This morning's early morning lightening storm was kind of an exclamation point to two weeks of strange weather for the area.
And all the flooding in Iowa proves one thing: Jay Leno was wrong. Back in the first week January just before the Iowa caucuses he said that the word caucus was an Indian word meaning the only day of the year anyone pays attention to Iowa.
From two weeks ago when Parkersburg and other towns where hit by a tornado to the flooding of last week has provided the national press with lots of dramatic images.
Things began to return back to normal in Cedar Falls on Friday when the downtown ban was lifted and the national guard moved on. By Friday night hundreds of people had gathered in Overman Park to watch a movie in the park. Late Saturday afternoon I rode my bike downtown and saw Cup 'O Joe was open on Main St. and the distinct sound of a Bob Marley song was being performed live at The Hub:
Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!
It's tough out there
High Water Everywhere
High Water (For Charlie Patton)
It's hard to believe that is less than a week that flooding in Iowa alone as displaced tens of thousands of people and caused over $1.5 billion in damage. It's a classic man vs. nature battle that will also have long a term economic impact.
Just about a month ago I did a couple days location scouting for Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It in the very areas being hit by flood waters; Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Vinton and Cedar Rapids. Probably a good choice by Mandate Pictures to shoot their roller derby film later this summer in other states.
But those areas will rebound because that's what good Midwestern people do. And I thought I'd share with you some photos from this part of Iowa that I hope will be a refreshing break from the images you are seeing on the TV day after day.
Photos and text copyright ©2008 Scott W. Smith
Shooting "Chinatown"
"No Dogs, No Actors"—Hollywood c.1908

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CNP's co-production of 'Vineland Stelae,' a work by Sandeep Bhagwati at REDCAT Theater
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Category Archives: Papyri
Posted on December 23, 2013 by Roberta Mazza
Mrs Enriqueta Rylands, founder of the John Rylands Library, on a trip to Egypt (ca. 1907-1908)
(© The John Rylands Library)
From Egypt to Manchester: unravelling the John Rylands papyrus collection.
This conference aims to bring together scholars who are working or have recently worked on the John Rylands papyri. We welcome papers from any period and perspective based on papyri from our collection in any of the languages and scripts attested from the Ptolemaic to the early Arab period.
Topics are open, and may include, but are not confined to: edition and commentary of texts, historical studies based on the Rylands papyri, connections with other collections, history of the collection, and archives and dossiers of individuals and institutions held or partially held in Manchester.
We are particularly interested in papers offering new insights on the papyri considered and at the same time dealing with methodological questions related to the value of papyrus sources for the study of the past.
Abstracts of about 300 words for papers of 30 minutes must be sent via email to Roberta Mazza (roberta.mazza@manchester.ac.uk) by 15 February 2013.
The language of the conference is English.
The conference is sponsored by the John Rylands Research Institute and will take place at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, 4-6 September 2014.
Posted in Papyri, Uncategorized	| Tagged John Rylands Library, Papyri	| 2 Replies
'If your anus twitches, then troubles will follow…' Human bodies, divination and papyrology
Posted on November 30, 2013 by Roberta Mazza
Caroline Checkley-Scott showing us a possible way to stitch pages of a model of our small codex
There is a proverb in the Veneto region of Italy, which says that if your right eye has a spasm (actually it says 'dances') then you will have troubles in love. If the left eye does the same, you will be heartbroken. Knowing it or not, Veneto-Italians are continuing an ancient divination technique called 'palmomancy', the interpretation of the involuntary spasms or twitching of the human body. In the Graeco-Roman world, professional diviners and magicians gave body-based predictions of the future to their clients on the basis of manuals and centuries of experience. This field of knowledge is hard to be defined according to modern categories of religion, magic and medicine, since it often shares features with each of them.
Not many manuals of palmomancy have survived from antiquity, but we do have a fine one in Manchester: P. Ryl. I 28. The Rylands treatise occupies a very special position in the history of such literature, because it is one of the earliest, and one of very few extant copies, and because it was fabricated as a small codex, measuring about 7.5 x 6.6 cm. P. Ryl. I 28 was classified by E. Turner in his 'group 11' of codices ('miniature codices'), a definition that has since been applied to early codices measuring less than 10 cm. Another intriguing feature of Ryl. I 28 is its handwriting, which can be classified as a sample of the so-called 'Biblical majuscule', a writing canon that developed from the second to the ninth century AD and was especially but not exclusively adopted for Biblical manuscripts. Dating to the fourth century AD, our papyrus is another proof of how misleading is to separate neatly the interests, readings and writings of people living in late antiquity.
I am conducting some research on this piece as part of my pilot project on the Rylands papyri for the John Rylands Research Institute, with the help of two of the Library conservators, Timothy Higson and Caroline Checkley-Scott, and this week also of one of my most recent MA students, Chris, who wrote a successful dissertation on this papyrus.
Among the many issues we will address, the central one concerns the fabrication of the booklet. I am convinced that the clarification of this point may help us to understand something more about the small book's history and that of its ancient owner.
My first research question is whether we possess the entire book or if some pages went missing. As it stands, the manuscript is composed of four papyrus sheets, each bearing 4 pages (2 on each side). This became at some point the standard for the fabrication of codices: the group of four sheets (=16 pages) was called quaternio ('set of four') in Latin, and later became 'quire' in English. The four sheets were put one on top of the other, folded and then stitched together.
Detail of the thread's remains
P Ryl. I 28 is exceptionally interesting because remains of the binding thread are still in place. It is here that Caroline Checkley-Scott, a renowned expert in bookbinding, is helping me to solve a problem. Palmomancy treatises follow a very schematic pattern: they describe twitches and their significance from top to bottom, i.e. from the head to the feet. Our treatise, however, starts with the abdomen, and ends with the toes. In other words, it seems to consider only the lower half of the body, which led me to suspect that at least another quire of the original codex is missing. The analysis of the threads and little holes on some pages seems to confirm this hypothesis, but more experiments and analysis are due in order to prove the point. Caroline has also noticed that on the sheet that constituted the middle of the quire there are traces of a piece of material, maybe a strip of papyrus or leather, probably inserted to protect and reinforce the binding. We have also some ideas on the rounded form of the page edges. More experiments, multispectral imaging, and some laboratory analysis will help us testing our hypotheses.
For now, I leave you on a funny note. P Ryl. I 28 was first published in 1911 by A.S. Hunt, the famous papyrologist from Oxford who formed a formidable pair with his friend and colleague B.P. Grenfell. Hunt avoided translating the sections of the Rylands treatise describing the twitching of private body parts like the one alluded to in the title of this post, which runs as follows:
'If the anus, that some also call 'ring', twitches, it shows inspections, abuses, and the discovery of secret matters'.
Avoiding words linked to sexuality and other bodily functions was typical of late Victorian morality, and very far from Greek and Roman direct attitudes to the human body. However, we have been recently amused by the discovery of a naughty photograph of a beautiful naked woman stitched into a page of B.P. Grenfell's paper archive in Oxford (reported by Viceandvirtueblog). It seems the scholar was interested in human bodies after all. So beware, scholars! Other scholars will later investigate your files and will notice inconsistencies in your behaviour: consider burning after reading…
Further reading: the best edition and discussion of Greek palmomancy treatises is available in Italian, S. Costanza, Corpus Palmomanticum Graecum, Florence 2009. On divination in antiquity I like Sarah Iles Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination. Blackwell Ancient Religions, Oxford 2008; on the development of the codex as a book form, E.G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex, Philadelphia 1977; sensible warnings on the category of 'miniature codex' have been recently made by T.J. Kraus, 'P.Oxy. V 840 – Amulett or Miniature Codex? Principal and Additional Remarks on Two Terms', in Id., Ad Fontes: Original Manuscripts and Their Significance for the Studying Early Christianity, Leiden 2007.
Posted in Papyri, Uncategorized	| Tagged John Rylands Library, P.Ryl. I 28, Palmomancy, Papyri	| 1 Reply
On proverbs and names: Methuselah of P Herm. Rees 25
Last week at the John Rylands Library we have restored and glazed a Byzantine contract, P Herm. Rees 25. The papyrus has lost the beginning but the bottom is almost complete and the subscriptions of both the parties and the witnesses are legible. These open interesting insight into questions of literacy and writing skills in late antique Egypt. As it is often the case, the witnesses have uncertain handwritings, which look very different from the more accomplished hand that composed the body of the contract, a deed concerning the property of a house. They are barely capable to write their signature and a few other words in big capital letters penned with trembling hands.
Were they almost illiterate? Or did they have eyes problems? Were they old aged and maybe longsighted? Having problems with my eyes, I imagine how miserable life must have been for people like me in antiquity! Devices as glass-lenses were known and used, but they must have been very expensive and therefore available only to a minority. The subscription of the people involved in the deed was penned by Paul, the brother of Victor accountant of Memnoneia, in charge of the writing of the document since they 'do not know letters'; in the case of the witnesses, however, you realise how bad were their handwriting and Greek grammar only checking the original manuscript.
'I, Methuselah (son) of John, elder, act as a witness'.
Methuselah made a number of mistakes. He wrote his father's name in the wrong case, and without one of the two 'nu' (Ιωάννης). But the abbreviated form for his profession, 'elder' (πρεσβύτερος), and the (mis)use of a diaeresis (double dots on the Ι) show that he was acquainted with document reading and writing.
Methuselah is the witness of P Herm. 25 I was most intrigued by. His Biblical name has become proverbial for longevity ('as old as Methuselah'), and in Egypt it does not seem to have been common. The few attestations so far are mainly from late antique Djeme (Greek Memnoneia, Thebes West) where also our document seems to have been drawn. Methuselah is an unskilled writer and makes some grammar mistakes, but at the same time his signature shows that he was familiar with written documents.
Wide questions on alphabetization and degrees of literacy in late antiquity arise when considering papyri like this one, of course, but I must say that my curiosity is all for Methuselah. I imagine him subscribing the deed, writing slowly and uncertainly, with his head very close to the papyrus in order to see, and I wish I knew more about him and his story. Imagine this man, who received such an unusual name: did the parents choose Methuselah for him? What a cruel name for a new born…if nomen est omen I bet Methuselah looked already old as a child! But the choice could also have been a way to wish the son a long life in a world where the infancy mortality rate was incredibly high. He identifies himself as an elder, a presbyter. What did it mean to bear this role in fifth century AD Egypt?
In a time when historians have to spend words to explain why their subject is relevant for society and what their research impact is – all self-evident to me and the general audience up to few years ago –, I plainly confess that I do ancient history and papyrology because through these subjects I am given the possibility to connect with a mass of past normal people in their everyday activities. Whatever big questions I may help answering, the joy comes from the humanity impressed in ink on that papyrus, and the attraction exercised by that very man, Methuselah.
To me history is, among many other things, a way to overcome the finitude of human life giving a permanent voice to those whose voices were not loud enough when alive: a way to rescue Methuselah of Djeme from oblivion. Is it worth?
Further readings: B.R. Rees, Papyri from Hermopolis and other documents of the Byzantine period, London 1964 has full edition and translation of the papyrus; on questions of (il)literacy and reasons for not being able to write you may read the groundbreaking article of H. Youtie, 'Bradeos graphon: between literacy and illiteracy', in Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 12 (1971) pp. 239-261, and the more recent T.J. Kraus, '(Il)literacy in non-literary papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt: further aspects of the educational ideal in literary sources and modern times', in Mnemosyne 4a s., 53 (2000), pp. 322-342. On late antique Egypt, R.S. Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity, Princeton 1993.
Posted in literacy, Methuselah, P Herm. Rees 25, Papyri	| Tagged John Rylands Library, Methuselah, P Herm	| 3 Replies
Ancient Lives/Future Skills: Discovering Graeco-Roman Egypt at the Manchester Museum
Posted on June 26, 2013 by Roberta Mazza
The team of Kim and Katharina working on Artemidora's dossier
Yesterday I led a school day on Graeco-Roman Egypt with a group of colleagues, graduate students and staff of the Manchester Museum. Using artefacts and papyri from the Manchester Museum and the John Rylands Library collections, we asked sixth form students of Runshaw College (Manchester) and Holy Cross College (Bury) to create short I-pad video-biographies of fictitious characters supposed to have lived in Egypt under the Roman rule. The results were impressive in terms of creativity and competence. They made me think a lot about how dramatically different the learning environment has become, and how inadequate some of our teaching still is.
Based on last year experience with schools for the exhibition Faces&Voices, the Graeco-Roman Egypt day at the museum has confirmed some trends:
Pupils do like ancient history and museums. The school day was attended by about 30 enthusiastic and engaged students. In their feedback forms pupils said that they wanted more time to be spent in the galleries where they were asked to find one object to add to their biography dossier. They also liked the object-based approach to ancient history as a more effective way to study history.
Students' feedback with appreciation for Chris, the graduate student team leader
Pupils like to be taught by people closer to their age. The pupils were divided into five groups led by a graduate student of our division (Classics & Ancient History, and Religion & Theology), and they enjoyed the experience. I noticed that they chatted a lot with their University peers, but were much less talkative when I interacted with them. Graduate students should be given more seminar teaching by Universities in close collaboration and under the supervision of senior course leaders. This will increase the quality of our courses and the student experience as both undergraduates and graduates.
Pupils like objects better than texts. Being a visual generation this is not surprising and it is positive because material culture should be much more integrated into ancient history teaching at all levels. It is nonetheless a point on which educators must find some sort of counter-balance. The ability of critical textual analysis is still a crucial skill. The syntax and grammar of social media communication and the overwhelming quality and quantity of digital and non-digital images that surround us are undermining students' ability to approach texts critically and to write. (Answers to this? I don't see many at the moment. May group reading be a strategy?)
Pupils are creative. This actually enhances our experience as teachers and scholars. Our work, especially as scholars, tends to be restricted by academic conventions that do not encourage creativity. I was actually inspired, entertained and intellectually stimulated in ways I am not so often, for instance, while listening at conference papers. Creative intelligence tends to be forgotten and less valued than other intellectual qualities in the education process.
This model of seminar is definitely successful and rewarding for all the people involved, and I am now trying to find ways of integrating aspects of it into my university courses. In the light of this on-going experience, I believe that having closer relationships with college students and teachers is essential for lecturers.
Posted in Manchester, Mummy portraits, Papyri, Students	| Tagged egyptian antiquities, manchester museum, Papyri, Roman Egypt, students	| Leave a reply
Dion, aged 45, farewell
Posted on May 21, 2013 by Roberta Mazza
Gilded mummy case of Dion
Manchester Museum 2179, Ancient Worlds Gallery
The gilded cartonnage upper-body mummy case of Dion is on display in the Manchester Museum Ancient Worlds Gallery. We know the name of the dead and his age at death because of a Greek inscription on the back of the head: 'Dion, aged 45, farewell'.
As Artemidoros and his family, Dion was a member of the Hellenised elite that administered the Arsinoite nome under the Roman rule. His family wanted him to be buried in Hawara, following traditional Egyptian funerary practices.
The mummy case has been dated to the first century AD. The face mask resembles the traditionally Egyptian, gilded ones but at the same time, following a new Greek and Roman taste, individual features are introduced, such as the black hair and the inlaid eyes. The upper part of the body is protruding from the mummy case. Dion holds an intense pink flower wreath in his right hand and a papyrus roll in the left. Below his bust, on the case, a mummy, possibly that of Dion, is guarded by two mummified rams.
Garlands and wreaths: flowers and their possible meanings
Not differently than in other parts of the ancient world, flower garlands and wreaths were commonly used in Egypt for different celebrations and rituals, as these lines from a 2nd century AD papyrus letter from Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. 44 3313) informs:
'Apollonios and Sarapis to Dionysia, greetings. Your wonderful announcement about the wedding of the most excellent Sarapion has filled us with joy, and we would have come straight away to serve him on a day long-awaited by us and to take part to the celebration; but because of the prefect's court sessions and because we are just recovering from being sick, we were unable to come. There are not many roses here yet; on the contrary they are few and from all the estates and the garland makers we were barely able to collect the thousand that we sent to you with Sarapas, even by picking those that should have been picked only tomorrow. We had as much narcissus as you wanted, so we have sent four thousand instead of the two thousand…'
Remains of flowers and garlands have been found in many tombs of the Roman period in Hawara and other Egyptian sites. Petrie mentions them often in his notebooks and excavation reports, a well-preserved example of a wreath can be seen at the British Museum and the Manchester Museum have some too (5371.c-d). As many others, the British Museum sample was made by immortelles (Helichrysum stoechas), a perennial flower imported to Egypt from Italy or Greece that now seems to grow especially on canal banks and in cemeteries (S. Walker et al., Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt, London 1997, p. 207).
The shape and colour of the garland's flowers represented on Dion's mummy case recall rose buds and may have a connection with Isis and Osiris cult. In Apuleius' Metamorphoses, a Latin novel written in mid-second century AD, Lucius returns to his human nature thanks to a complex ritual in which a garland of roses carried by a priest in his right hand (the same as our Dion) and later ingested by the protagonist has a central meaning (XI, 6; 13). The ritual has been linked by scholars to the so-called 'Spell of the Crown Justification' contained in the Book of the Dead and preserved on papyri and temple walls (P. Derchaine, 'La couronne de la justification: Essai d'analyse d'un rite ptolémaique', Chronique d' Égypte 30 (1955), 225-87). This ritual was transformed and integrated with Greek practices in the Ptolemaic period and linked with Isis and Osiris religious rites. We may wonder then if the papyrus roll in Dion's left hand was actually a copy of this book or of the spell.
We will try to have a look at the back inscription of Dion soon, stay tuned!
Posted in Hawara, Manchester, Mummy, Mummy portraits, Papyri	| Tagged Apuleius Metamorphoses, Book of the Dead, Hawara, Mummy	| Leave a reply
Portraits of women
Manchester Museum inv. 2266 (Hawara, Fayum, 138-160 AD) The woman is wearing a purple tunic maybe similar to that of the daughter of Herakleos (P.Ryl. 151)
© The Manchester Museum
Last week I had a meeting with Campbell Price and Bryan Sitch at the Manchester Museum to discuss a project for enhancing the use of artefacts in the teaching of Roman history. We were looking for objects that enlighten the life of ancient individuals and I complained about the lack of women from our list. In fact, if we turn our attention to papyri, women do appear in surprising ways; papyri offer views on women's life as no other kind of sources do.
Petitions are intriguing. In these one-sided accounts we would expect to find women as the victims of violence and injustice, but we do actually find them acting on both sides, as victims and perpetrators.
Herais attacks the daughter of Herakleos
P.Ryl. 151: http://papyri.info/ddbdp/p.ryl;2;151/
To Gaius Iulius Pholus, head of the policemen (epistates ton phylakiton), from Herakleos, son of Pathermouthis, from Euemeria in the district of Themistes. Herais, the wife of Heraklas, son of P…., of the same village, having entered into my house in the village and seized my daughter, gave her many blows all over the body, stripped and tore off her purple tunic and carried away 100 drachmas from those of the gymnasiarch[1] which I administer. For this reason write to the chief of the police (archephodos) …
(second hand) To the chief of police (archephodos): send them up!
Year 5 of Gaius Caesar Emperor Augustus Saviour, the 20 of Sebastos (= 17 October 40 AD).
(On the verso the editors read traces of an address ' To the chief of police (archephodos) of Euemeria' and date now disappeared)
Among many other things, the papyrus informs us on the way public order worked in the early Roman period. Herakleos, the father of the woman attacked, petitioned the head of the police at the nome (regional district) level to intervene on the village police highest authority, the archephodos. But isolated as it is, the petition does not allow us knowing if the story is true and how the quarrel ended up. We may wonder about the reasons behind the attack. Herakleos administers the treasure of the local gymnasium: were there shortfalls in the gymnasiarch account that he had to explain, and then he made up a story? Or was Herais mad at the girl for some reasons?
Soueris, a runaway girl
To Serapion, head of the policemen, from Hatres, son of M…, oil-maker of those who are in Euemeria, in the division of Themistes, of Gaius Iulius Ethenodoros and Tiberius Calpurnius Tryphon. Soueris, daughter of Harsuthmis, olive-carrier that works with me under contract changed her mind, left the mill, and escaped persuaded by her father Arsuthmios as long ago as the 19th of Mecheir of the 16th year of Tiberius Caesar Augustus (= 13 February 30 AD), her father being oblivious of what he with his wife owes me according to a contract of engagement (paramone). And she carried off from my house a cloak worth 4 silver drachmas and 40 silver drachmas, which I was keeping for payment of the rent. Therefore I have suffered not a minor damage. For this reason I ask the accused persons to be brought to you for the ensuing punishment. Farewell.
Hatres, aged 35, with a scar in the middle of the forehead.
Soueris, daughter of Arsuthmios, was due to work as olive-carrier with Hatres at an oil-mill probably for repaying the interests on a debt contracted by her parents. This seems alluded by the mention of a paramone contract (l. 20), usually a contract of service to fulfill the payment of interests (or the capital) of a loan, meaning that a loan was fulfilled by staying at the service of the creditor. But Hatres complains that the girl ran away on suggestion of her father bringing with her a cloak and a sum of money. We can exercise our imagination on the reasons behind the escape, in view of the very weak position the girl must have had at the factory. How was life for a girl at the house of a 35 years old man with whom her family was indebted?
Aplounous, Thermis and Eudemonis, a day at the village baths…
Through this illiterate petition we enter into the village baths of Euemeria and see women quarrelling and fighting. The text of the petition begins on one side of the papyrus, continues on the back; it has mistakes and corrections, and is incomplete, which indicate that it was a draft.
From Hippalos, son of Archis, farmer of public land inhabitant of the village of Euemeria in the division of Themistes. On the 6th of Tubi (1 January), as my wife Aplounous and her mother Thermis (were bathing?), Eudemonis, daughter of Protarchos, Etthutais, daughter of Pees, Dius, son of Ammonios, and Heraclous attacked them and gave my wife Aplounous and her mother in the bath of the village many blows all over the body, so that she is laid up in bed, and in the struggle she lost a golden ear-ring weighing three quarters, a bracelet of unstamped metal weighing sixteen drachmae, and a bronze bowl worth twelve drachmae, and Thermis her mother lost a golden ear-ring weighing two and a half quarters, and … (here the text stops)
The three papyri here discussed belong to a larger group of petitions, all dated to the first half of the first century AD, acquired on the antiquity market by B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt and then assigned to the John Rylands Library. The documents (P.Ryl. 124-152) were published in the second volume of the Catalogue of the Greek Papyri in the John Rylands Library at Manchester (1915). Few other papyri belonging to the same lot are now dispersed in other collection. These petitions concern people from the village of Euemeria (Fayum), but are addressed to the head of the police or other officers in the nome capital, Arsinoe. Through them we can observe the early Roman administration at work in Egypt. The distance between the two localities was of about 40 km. The first petition here reported reveals details of the process. It was endorsed and addressed on the verso to the archephodos in Euemeria, therefore it seems reasonable to think that the document was written in or sent to the capital of the nome, Arsinoe, presented successfully to the head of the police there, and then sent back to the village police authority in order to bring the people involved to the capital.
If you want to know more about petitions in Roman Egypt I recommend B. Kelly, Petitions, Litigation and Social Control in Roman Egypt, Oxford 2011.
[1] The head of the gymnasium. The gymnasium was a cultural and educative institution where boys were admitted at the age of fourteen. It was also a center for the promotion of the Greek culture, and a sort of a gentlemen club. The gymnasium had a political dimension since only the Hellenised elite was admitted in.
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A new page presenting some Students' projects has just been added.
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"Peter you've always been hot-tempered…" The Gospel of Mary in Manchester (P.Ryl. 463)
The case with the Gospel of Mary fragment in the Crawford room
P.Ryl. 463: The Gospel of Mary
I've recently realised that few people in Manchester know that one of the two extant Greek fragments of the Gospel of Mary is in the John Rylands Library, and now on exhibition. The gospel in question is an apocryphal (a writing that has not been included later in the Church canon of the Bible) where a Mary – possibly Mary of Magdala, but this is uncertain since other Christian women brought this name – has a central role in the inner circle of Jesus' first disciples.
There's no surviving extant copy of this book, but only three fragmentary manuscripts are preserved from antiquity (P.Ryl. 463, P.Oxy 3525 and P.Berol. 8502). On the basis of these, scholars have reconstructed the Gospel main content as follows. It started with Jesus, the Saviour, appearing to the disciples after the resurrection. He gives a speech and instructs them on how to preach the gospel, and then leaves. The disciples, however, feel discomforted and are afraid to go out. At this point Mary stands up and reassures the others. Under Peter's invitation she reports some hidden teachings that the Saviour in a vision reserved only to her. At the end of her speech, Andrew and Peter react with disbelief, while Levi trusts Mary and goes out to preach her Gospel.
A closer look at the Rylands fragment
The Rylands fragment was purchased with others in Egypt on behalf of the library by J. Rendel Harris in 1917, but was recognised as "The Gospel of Mary" only later by C. Roberts when he published the third volume of the Catalogue (ed. 1938, pp. 18-23).
It came from Oxyrhynchus as some notes on the envelope where it was kept before edition and conservation revealed. It is tiny (ab. 8.9 x 9.9 cm) and written on both sides. This shows that it was originally part of a codex, a book composed by sheets of papyrus folded and then stitched together in a way to obtain an artefact very similar to our paper books. In fact the numbers of the pages, κα (21) and κβ (22), are still visible on top of each side. We have no idea of what the entire ancient codex-book contained originally. The Coptic version of the Gospel of Mary now in Berlin comes from a codex collecting also other three apocryphal works, the Apocryphon of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ and the Act of Peter (P. Berol. 8502). In the Berlin papyrus the title "Gospel of Mary" is added at the end of the last page as it sometimes happens in ancient manuscripts (colophon), our fragment unfortunately breaks at the end and the line reporting the title is supplied by scholars, but actually lost.
Thanks to the Coptic more extensive version, we now know that what is preserved in Manchester seems to be the final part of the gospel. On the basis of the Coptic text Roberts estimated that the writing on the Manchester pages should have occupied an area of about 7.5 x 12 cm therefore we may roughly estimate an original leaf measuring with margins just a little bit more than this. The Rylands papyrus and P.Oxy. 3525 have been dated to the early 3rd century, while the Berlin Coptic codex to the 5th century. All the copies are dated on palaeographical ground (i.e. analysing features of the handwriting and comparing it with that of firmly dated papyri, not an infallible method but the best we have…).
I played a little with the tiny fragment, making my own translation of it. I put in square brackets words that are not clearly preserved on the papyrus. I tried to respect the line division as much as possible. If you compare my translation with that of the Catalogue you'll see that some words were more legible at the time of the first publication. In fact the ink seemed to have deteriorated or even faded away in some part of the papyrus.
When only three fragmentary copies of a work (of which the most extensive one is in a different language) are available it is a challenge to establish 'the text' as it should have been. To complicate the situation further, as noticed in an excellent book on the scribes who transmitted the first copies of early Christian literature, early Christian manuscripts show a very high rate of variations and differences.[1] We should bear in mind that texts were extremely fluid in antiquity, and what we have are fragmentary texts survived by chance, even thrown away at some point as it was the case of this fragment that comes from the ancient rubbish heaps of Oxyrhynchus.
On the right top of the first line of the text on the recto (p. 21) there are some traces of ink that will be investigated next year with the help of new imaging technologies.
English translation of P.Ryl. 463, images from the John Rylands Library database: page 21 (recto) and page 22 (verso).
for the remaining of the course of time
of the aeon, [I will find] rest in silence."
When she had told these things, Mary went silent
as the saviour had spoken thus far.
Andrew said: "Brothers,
what do you think about these discourses? As [for myself]
I do not believe that [the sa-]
viour said these words, for it seems [to contra-]
dict his thoughts. When the saviour was asked about these matters, he [2]
spoke to a woman in secret and [not open-]
ly so that all of us would have lis[ten]
[at something] more worthy of mention[…]
(papyrus breaks off here)
of the savior." Levi said to Peter:
"Peter you've always been hot-tempered
and so now you question this
woman [as] if we were her adversaries.
If the saviour deemed her worthy,
who are you to set her at naught?
For knowing her thoroughly, he
loved her steadily. Rather let us
be ashamed and having put on
the perfect man, we will accomplish
what has been ordered to us, to preach
the gospel without divisions or rules as
[the saviour said."] Having said this, Le-
[vi left and] began pr[eaching]
[the Gospel according to Mary]
(the papyrus breaks off here)
If you want to know more about this Gospel and the other copies, I recommend C. Tuckett, The Gospel of Mary, Oxford 2007 (with some differences in the reading and translations from what you have here and in the Catalogue) and K.L. King, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala. Jesus and the First Woman Apostle, Santa Rosa Ca. 2003.
As you may already know, professor Karen King of Harvard University has recently announced the discovery of a Coptic papyrus fragment dating to the 4th century where according to her interpretation Jesus mentions his wife (you can read a pre-edition and interpretation of the fragment here). This gospel, if not a forgery as some scholars think, would belong to the same group of early Christian gospels as the Rylands fragment that gives us images of Jesus and his inner circle and family different from those later established as 'normal', 'canonical'. Texts like the Gospel of Mary and many others did not find their way into the New Testament canon, were later declared deviant and therefore went lost till when they reappeared from the sands of Egypt. We are now more aware about diversities in the early Christian movement thanks to these discoveries.
You can have an overview on the current, lively debate on the so-called Jesus wife papyrus fragment in the excellent summary published on Rogueclassicism Blog. Challenges to the authenticity have been moved, among others, by Alin Suciu on his blog, that I recommend following.
[1] K. Haines-Eitzen, Guardians of Letters. Literacy, Power, and the Transmission of Early Christian Literature, Oxford 2000, p. 106: 'Among the 5,400 Greek manuscripts of New Testament texts, for example, no two are identical; more relevant, perhaps, is the fact that 52 extant manuscripts that can be dated to the period from the second century to the fourth exhibit more differences and variations than the thousands of later manuscripts.'
[2] The text here differs from the Coptic version. The Berlin papyrus reports Peter as the one who moves the following points while Peter is mentioned in our fragment only on the other side of the papyrus. Some scholars solve this passage this way: Being asked, <Peter said>: "The saviour etc. …" However 'Peter said' is not in the text: was this a slip of the scribe while copying or are the two versions depending on different traditions? Maybe Peter appeared in the lines that now are lost, but this is not certain.
Posted in Christianity, Papyri, Translation	| Tagged Christianity, Gospel of Mary, Papyri	| Leave a reply
A Roman Letter of Recommendation
Posted on September 17, 2012 by Roberta Mazza
P.Ryl. 608 © The John Rylands Library
P.Ryl. 608 verso © The John Rylands Library
A letter of recommendation written in Latin, P.Ryl. 608, found its way into the exhibition since it is luckily glazed with the Latin contract of marriage P.Ryl. 612 (see Getting married in a multicultural society).
It was common in the Roman world to recommend friends or acquaintances in many occasions and for different reasons, a job, a deal or just because of travelling. Our letter was written for recommending an imperial slave, whose name is lost in a lacuna, to a Roman imperial procurator, Tiberius Claudius Hermeros.
…ius Celer to his Hermeros, greetings.
Allow me, sir, to commend to your notice …on, a slave of our lord the emperor, a member of my household and dear to me. He is most deserving of advancement and of your favour, and I do not disguise that any service you can render him in his career will be most welcome to me.
(Address on the verso)
To Tiberius Claudius Hermeros imperial procurator
Given in Panopolis by Celer the architect
The Latin text is available through papyri.info.
The letter has received the attention of many scholars. The handwriting has been defined as an example of a standard type of script in use in the Roman Empire at the end of the 1st and beginning of the 2nd century AD, and has been compared to those of some texts coming from other parts of the Empire, first of all the Roman fort of Vindolanda on the Hadrian wall. This confirms the view that Egypt was part of a wider world, and what we observe happening there is not confined to the life of that province, but give insights in the history and culture of the Roman Empire as whole. An elegant hand penned the letter with words separated by points, as it happened also in inscriptions, and marking some long syllables with accents. The Latin is elegant although at some extent formulaic, but this is connected with the nature of the text. The same hand has written some scribbles that we are unable to restore in the left margin of the letter.
The addressee was a very high status Roman citizen, a Tiberius Claudius Hermeros, imperial procurator (a Roman knight with administrative, financial duties in the provinces, appointed by the emperor), and the writer belonged to the Roman elite as well. The name is only partially preserved at the beginning: '…ius Celer', but the address on the verso says his profession, that of architect. A hypothetical identification with the homonymous architect of Nero's domus aurea has been proposed, but as a matter of fact we cannot be sure about the identity of any of the two correspondents.
If you want to know more about Roman letters of recommendation you can read H. Cotton, Documentary Letters of Recommendation in Latin from the Roman Empire (1981). Examples of this kind of letters came to us through the epistolary of many ancient authors from Cicero, to Pliny, and the late antique collections of Symmachus and Gregory the Great. Paul's letter to Philemon in the New Testament could be read as a letter of recommendation, since in it the apostle recommends the man to forgive the slave Onesimos.
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text:
Home Cyprus Ballast water treatment manufacturer offers free disinfectant to Cyprus Government to help...
Ballast water treatment manufacturer offers free disinfectant to Cyprus Government to help fight Covid-19
Ballast water treatment system manufacturer Flow Water Technologies has offered to supply the Cyprus Government with disinfectant free of charge to help combat the national spread of Covid-19.
The Cyprus-based engineering company has ramped up its production of disinfectant compound sodium hypochlorite and is now capable of generating five cubic metres of high concentrate per day, the equivalent of 60 cubic metres of sanitiser.
"We have taken the joint decision to put aside our immediate commercial objectives and help assist with the national fight against Covid-19 infection escalation," said Mark Hadfield, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Flow Water Technologies.
"Cyprus imports chemicals but it will soon run out. As Flow Water Technologies BWMS solution holds a Cyprus biocide licence for the emergency services the moral obligation was clear."
Last year, Flow Water Technologies launched the FlowSafe DCD 2000 unit which produces a safe-to-use sodium hydrochlorus solution that can be installed within a matter of hours onboard vessels ranging from private yachts, tankers, container ships to cruise liners.
"FlowSafe DCD 2000 ensures endless amounts of cleaning and disinfection control to clean and sanitise all the drinking water units along with endless amounts of liquid to clean the whole crew quarters of the vessel including the galley," said Mr Hadfield.
FlowSafe DCD 2000 is part of Flow Water's ongoing corporate mission to engineer equipment that helps in the reduction of plastics on-board vessels while ensuring the well-being of crew.
The FlowSafe system, designed by Flow Water engineers for the shipping industry, has close to no operational costs
A new offset carbon neutral ballast water management system called FlowSafe, which can be installed at sea and runs at close to zero costs, has been designed by marine engineering firm Flow Water Technologies Ltd.
The modular turnkey system is compact and, with one machine and multiple ballast lines, is ideally designed for tankers or pump rooms, which are difficult to fit.
"We are launching an innovative ballast water treatment solution specifically for the shipping industry, especially for difficult to fit vessels, after extensive consultation with global ship owners and operators," said Mark Hadfield, Chief Executive Officer, Flow Water.
"Using innovative technology, we have developed a safe and compliant system that is offset CO2 neutral, simple to use, and which offers close to no operational costs."
FlowSafe, designed by Flow Water's team of marine engineers with over 25 years' experience, is a filterless solution, which is offset carbon neutral as it requires no additional generators.
All ships are required to manage their ballast water since the implementation last September of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention).
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention is in place to ensure that aquatic organisms and pathogens are removed or rendered harmless before ballast water is released into a new location.
Flow Water Technologies Ltd, headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus, is a dedicated ballast water management engineering firm established by engineers with extensive experience in water treatment solutions.
Flow Water has established its own onsite training facility, the Flow Water Academy, developed in association with Frederick University to give students hands-on education and experience in the water ballasting process.
"The Academy will train Cyprus Maritime Academy Students, technicians, and clients who purchase FlowSafe," said Hadfield.
"It will become the first Academy in the world to offer International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications in water ballasting technology testing.
"Crew and owners will be able to work hands on with live ballast water using US Coast Guard (USCG) approved test equipment."
"Using innovative technology, we have developed a safe and compliant system that is offset CO2 neutral, simple to use, and which offers close to no operational costs," said Mark Hadfield, Chief Executive Officer, Flow Water.
Source: Shipmanagement International
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Essay Instructions: Find 5 articles online about the novel, the catcher in the rye by jd salinger.
and write a 5 page research paper, start with intro and each page shoud explain/summarize/paraphrase about each article, and end with conclusion. No more than 15% of whole paper could be quotes.
Articles should be traceable online.
Customer is requesting that (craig) completes this order.
Essay Instructions: Read the novel, the catcher in the rye by jd salinger.
Find the passage when the main character calls himself "the catcher in the rye" and analyze that passage in 2 page paper. a thesis and support style. quotes needed.
Essay Instructions: Writing a research based paper like a scenario that you are joining a conversation about a topic and now you review all those opinions and add orginal ideas to the conversation. Literary research paper on one particular text (the catcher in the rye) that includes at least 4 outside sources and ONLY one can be Internet-only. Spend a large portion of the paper presenting your research findings (the multiple perspectives associated with the text). Think of informing readers of all those other voices that have already joined the conversation. After presenting the viewpoints, add own ideas about the text and show how it fits into the larger discussion. You might agree or disagree with some of the sources or you might add to an already established arguement, but you must add something new to the conversation. Also use some academic sources from databases as means of research. The paper needs: a specific, focused, and clearly written thesis statement, support for thesis, MLA documentation, and organizational strategy.
What is conformity? People every day are forced to conform to their surroundings. In CATCHER IN THE RYE, Holden faces the idea of Conformity to his peers and society. Ina well written five paragraph essay explain how Holden must conform and in what aspects. Consider these Themes: The pain connected to adolescence/growing up, Alienation ,Phoniness. How does Holden conform or not , to his surroundings, peers and society. Essay must include THESIS STATEMENT ,transition sentences between paragraphs, and introduction, 3 body paragraphs and a conclusion.


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Search on Ebay for Droid hard case. They're pretty much all the same design, just out of different materials and different colors and patterns.
Was your day "Well Lived"?
Can't see Droid screen in sunlight! What do I do?
Does the motorola droid allow you to swap batteries without turning it off?
Where can I get my Motorola MicroTAC hooked up?


how he used the natural cut of a pelt to give leather jackets and shorts an unusually-textured bottom edge, played with linen and cotton for suits and tops that looked crisp, clean and contemporary and added accessories that built upon the black Converse tennis shoes he partnered with last year.
This season, Seco rubbed black, silver and then gold paint on the toes and heels of sneakers before distressing it. His bags -- and even one pair of shorts -- incorporated the Mexican embroidery that he procured from a small town specializing in that craft.
Additionally, Seco promised us he has a US department store exclusive to announce soon. Watch for it here.


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text:
Interview with Fu Yuning: Role of state-owned enterprises in China
Dr Fu Yuning is the Chairman of China Resources Holding and a member of the National Committee of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CCPPCC).
In this interview with James Chau, he talks about the transformed role of state-owned enterprises in China, and lends his insight on how foreign-owned businesses can continue to leverage opportunities in China, especially around healthcare.
James Chau: Dr. Fu, let's talk about Chinese state-owned enterprises. The Americans say that they have an unfair advantage because they're so well supported by the government in China that they don't really need to be that competitive. What do you say to that?
Dr. Fu Yuning: After the last 40 years of reform, China's corporations have transformed entirely, as we [went from] collectively owned enterprises to [what we have] now. Most of the enterprises are [funded by] private loans and only a very small number exist for last 45 years. SOE have almost entirely transformed from [being] government-supported to market-oriented and [competing] in the commercial world, behaving very much like a commercial enterprise. Today, "state-owned" only means the government is a shareholder. The interaction between the SOE and the donor [represents] the shareholder and the company's relations.
JC: So it's a completely transformed picture as you describe. If we look at the last 40 years, China has changed economically beyond recognition. What would you say to businesses that may be interested in coming into China at this time? What's China going to look like for them in say, two to five years from now?
FY: I think from the international investors' point of view, the Chinese economy after 40 years [experienced] rapid expansion, development, and modernization. But still, there are a lot of opportunities, and the foreign enterprises will still have a niche in the area where the services, the high value-added parts, I think they will still find room where they can do their business.
JC: Everybody wants to be part of this China or America story because they're the two biggest economies today. But China in particular is still an accelerating economy. What are some of the prime areas or opportunities for them to leverage? You mentioned services for example, but how can we break that down?
FY: I think health care will be [an important] one as China becomes an aging society. Medicare and pharmaceutical research is [still] underway, and China is still behind the West, in particular, behind the US. We would hope very much that the healthcare industry can draw on the experiences [of] advanced economies, and that the business community would find that China [to be] a very interesting, attractive market.
JC: They're all still concerns, of course, from the business community. You mentioned that doing business in China is not straightforward and can in fact be very complex, even expensive. The relationship with the United States is changing as we speak. What would you like for this new era of relations, no matter what happens after Osaka and the G20?
FY: Let us hope that these trade frictions, or trade fight, will not go on for too long. I think it is hurting both sides, and in particular hurting the consumers. Today, [within] the Sino-US economy and the businesses, so much is coupled together and although China has achieved remarkable progress- in many industries today China is number one- but if you look closely, with many number one industries, it was [achieved through] combined efforts with China and the West, and many [instances] with the United States. So I hope the two governments will not really stop the exchanges and the cross-border investment because the cross-border trade is benefiting both sides and both sides' people.
JC: Obviously there is a positive tone in your narrative. I wonder if you are excited as well, because when countries push each other and when they're well resourced like China and the United States, that's also an opportunity for upgrading and for innovation. Do you think we'll see that with China and what it may offer the world? Perhaps, despite the tensions that exist right now, it could lead to a far richer outcome for all?
FY: I would think so. International collaboration has been ongoing for the last 20 or 30 years and that in particular has brought a lot of economic progress. Technological development with China's big market [is] where the US innovative research work, would be the most beneficial to everybody if it can be combined. Of course, if there is a slow down in the exchanges and collaborations, Chinese companies will pursue their own research and probably put more resources into the R&D side, and they also hopefully will trade in some of the progress as well. But I still am a strong believer in global collaboration. Hopefully everybody would see the benefit of that.
JC: The world is bracing itself for a global society of 5G and the digital era. Even an aging society, but hopefully a healthy one as well. Dr. Fu Yuning, thank you very much for your insights on this.
FY: Thank you.


text:
John C. Reilly, 'Wreck-It Ralph' Star, On How 'Talladega Nights' Changed His Career
timmyp53|3362d ago |Interview|2|
Huffingington Post: "John C. Reilly has enjoyed one of the most fascinating career shifts of any actor working today. Once know for dramatic roles -- Reilly appeared in "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "Gangs of New York," "The Hours" and was Oscar-nominated for "Chicago" in 2002 -- things changed after he co-starred with Will Ferrell in 2006's "Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby." Or, as Reilly says, "the cat came out of the bag on that one."
Cinema John C. Reilly Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby huffingtonpost.com
Credit url:http://www.digitalspy.com/m...
Soldierone3363d ago
I personally liked him better as a voice over. He did Ralph well.
To be entirely honest, the cast behind Wreck It Ralph isn't appealing to me. The fact that it was animated and their voice overs were great is what made it awesome though
timmyp533362d ago
I remember watching Talladega Nights like a dozen times back in school. Then seeing him in movies like Magnolia and Thin Red Line. Guy is definitely talented.
Sundance 2022: 'La Guerra Civil' Explores a 1990s Boxing Culture War


As you may know, March is National Athletic Training Month. As expected this month is a big month for the LSU Athletic Training Program. One of the ways the program worked to spread awareness was holding an event for the kindergarteners from the LSU Lab School. Clinical Coordinator and Associate Athletic Trainer Michelle Collins was the mastermind behind the entire event. More than 100 students came to the PMAC to learn about athletic training from students, staff, and athletes. The kindergarteners were split into groups and visited different stations positioned throughout the women's basketball practice facility and the Broussard Athletic Training Room. The stations included taping, spine boarding and splinting, agility, rehab, stretching, a tour of the Broussard Athletic Training Room, and more! Women's Basketball's Anne Pedersen even came to help teach the kindergarteners about the agility drills she does during practice. The children learned what exactly athletic trainers do and all of the skills required to be an athletic trainer. It was an education and fulfilling experience for all involved. The children really enjoyed being able to use all of the equipment, be taped, and do the drills that LSU athletes do. Micki Collins did a fantastic job of organizing the event and it was a great way to celebrate National Athletic Training month.