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UMES was first officially recognized in 1909 and since then has developed a rich history. Please read on to learn more about the history of UMES.
The Red Lion
A.K.A Phil
The Red Lion was sketched for the first time on the afternoon of August 17, 1977 by a young undergraduate Geological Engineering student and Yearbook Editor named John Weston.
Later that year, Weston was asked by the UMES Publications director to proofread the first year student handbook. The Publications director had also forgotten to do the cover art for the handbook and was out of Winnipeg at the time, making it impossible for him to return for the printing deadline. Weston was therefore asked to create the cover for the handbook and decided to use the lion he had sketched earlier that year. At this point however, it was actually a brown lion, and had no official colour.
During that same year, the Faculty of Engineering was in a battle for funding with the University Administration, putting it in dire threat of losing accreditation. Dean Wedepohl, who was leading Engineering in the funding battle, borrowed the newly minted lion logo from the students to serve as a rallying symbol. The student body at this time was also very vocal in the funding fight and had in fact changed the lion's colour to the red we know today. Red was chosen for its bright colour and symbolized the "red tape" the Faculty was facing at the time.
In March of that year, the students and staff of Engineering celebrated victory in their funding battle. They painted the "Red Lion" on two large wooden signs, erected those signs in the Quadrangle facing the Administration Building, and held a large snowball fight. The idea for this came from the expression "If March comes in like a lamb, then it will go out like a Lion". This event marked the turning point when the Red Lion ceased to be recognized as "that-thing-those-two-guys-drew-all-the- time-during-the-funding-fight" and became identified as the mascot of Engineering students at the University of Manitoba.
Since its inception, the Red Lion has gone through various versions before arriving in its current form donning a hardhat, t-square and beer mug. In the fall of 1992, a poll of Engineering students was held and Red Lion was given its name, "Phil". Today the Red Lion has become recognized both on Campus and across Canada as a symbol of the pride and determination of University of Manitoba Engineering students.
The Senior Stick
Since the inception of the University of Manitoba Engineering Society (UMES) in 1909, the President of UMES has traditionally been known as the Senior Stick, and each spring has been marked by the passing of the ceremonial Stick-Of-Office from the outgoing Senior Stick to the incoming Senior Stick. At the end of each term of office the outgoing Senior Stick's name is engraved on a silver band and placed on the Stick-of-Office.
The Stick-Of-Office has an interesting history that, until recently, has never been widely known. The concept for the Stick was brought to the Engineering Society, and indeed to the entire University, by Professor E.E. Brydon-Jack when he was named the University's first professor of Engineering in 1906. Professor Brydon-Jack learned about the Stick-Of-Office tradition while visiting Dimbleby College in Portmeirion, Wales. The money was not available to commission the first Stick-Of-Office until 1927, and at that time the names of the previous Senior Sticks were included retroactively. In 1987, the first Stick-Of-Office had no room for additional names, and the former Senior Sticks were canvassed in order to finance the cost of commissioning a new one. The former Senior Sticks were so generous that enough money was left over to construct a display case as a gift to the University.
Both the 1927 and 1988 Sticks have very interesting and symbolic elements to their designs. The beaver on the very top of the crown of both the 1927 and 1988 Sticks was a traditional symbol of the army Corps of Engineers in Canada, and is sitting on a stylized sun, a source of life in ancient mythology. The 1927 stick was known for years for its distinctive rattle caused by something loose in the crown. This led to rumours that the Stick itself was a miniature time capsule and that a secret was held within. It wasn't until the 1988 Stick was commissioned that the secret was discovered - the rattle was caused by a loose chip of diamond that had been enclosed in the crown of the Stick since 1927. Also, inscribed on the inside of the silver crown, hidden from view, is the secret phrase that is repeated annually by the outgoing Senior Stick to the incoming Senior Stick. The 1988 Stick also has this phrase inscribed on its inside and contains a small diamond. When the 1927 Stick was commissioned the Faculty of Engineering also encompassed Architecture, and for this reason it says Faculty of Engineering and Architecture on it. The red and white circular logo is the traditional symbol of the Engineering Society, and it is joined on the 1988 Stick by the Red Lion, a more recent logo of the Society. Intriguingly enough, the circular pin on the 1988 Stick was actually found at a garage sale in 1987 by a student who recognized it as the UMES emblem; when the students charged with procuring the 1988 Stick noticed what their friend was wearing on his lapel they swiftly and efficiently stole it to be included on the new Stick-Of-Office. The silversmith who crafted the new Stick ascertained that the old pin was actually older than the 1927 Stick; faintly engraved at the bottom of the pin was the inscription "1912" which was obscured when the pin was cleaned before mounting. In this way part of the old tradition of the Faculty was recognized in the creation of the new Stick.
Senior Stick No. Name Year
111 I. Veloso 2018-19
110 H. Loewen 2017-18
109 A. Marchildon 2015-17
108 V. Marriott 2014-15
107 B. Marriott 2013-14
106 D. Nenadov 2012-13
105 K. Fritz 2011-12
104 D. Neufeld 2010-11
103 M. Lustly 2009-10
102 K. Hearson 2008-09
101 P. Dompierre 2007-08
100 S. R. Woodrow 2006-07
99 R. Supeene 2005-06
98 D. Lussier 2004-05
97 P. Fernandes 2003-04
96 B. Saunders 2002-03
95 W. Findlater 2001-02
94 C. Melvin 2000-01
93 C. Silverman 1999-00
92 G. Fletcher 1998-99
91 K. Kolbuch 1997-98
90 G. Drouin 1996-97
89 A. Hymers 1995-96
88 D. Bishop 1993-95
87 K. Wright 1992-93
86 G. Trachilis 1991-92
85 L. Chung 1990-91
84 L. Lansard 1989-90
83 K. Yackobski 1988-89
82 I. Mikawoz 1987-88
81 M. Gregoire 1986-87
80 J.D. Norris 1985-86
79 B.T. Rosentreter 1984-85
78 L. Ladan 1983-84
77 C. Rowan 1982-83
76 E. W. Tatarchuk 1981-82
75 B. R. Newton 1980-81
74 G. L. Bunio 1979-80
73 I. M. Thomson 1978-79
72 R. K. Dueck 1978
71 W. Hurley 1977-78
70 H. E. Enns 1976-77
69 F. H. Auld 1975-76
68 K. Tonn 1974-75
67 D. Osman 1973-74
66 B. Rogers 1972-73
65 D. B. Smerchanski 1971-72
64 M. Stringham 1970-71
63 W. Dilk 1969-70
62 A. L. Bodie 1968-69
61 J. R. Buchannan 1967-68
60 W. J. Strutt 1966-67
59 W. C. Wilton 1965-66
58 S. Sheps 1964-65
57 H. 0. Riml 1963-64
56 H. E. Wackman 1962-63
55 F. P. Coinnen 1961-62
54 J. E. Marshall 1961
53 C. P. Honeyman 1960-61
52 F. N. Houston 1960
51 C. E. Lamont 1959-60
50 K. Bailey 1958-59
49 D. Kasianchyk 1957-58
48 T. D. Rooke 1956-57
47 D. W. Craik 1955-56
46 G. E. Sims 1954-55
45 R. O. Vopni 1953-54
44 M. N. Anderson 1952-53
43 D. A. Young 1951-52
42 I. A. Mohammed 1950-51
41 R. G. Cawker 1949-50
40 K. W. MacKaw 1948-49
39 R. W. McLennan 1947-48
38 W. H. Matthews 1946-47
37 E. Bergenstein 1945-46
36 J. E. Page 1944-45
35 D. J. Roy 1943-44
34 J. R. Waldron 1942-43
33 J. F. Pink 1941-42
32 H. B. Young 1940-41
31 W. J. Milhausen 1939-40
30 J. N. Fraine 1938-39
29 W. B. F. MacKay 1937-38
28 E. W. Henselwood 1936-37
27 J. L. Henning 1935-36
26 D. Stratton 1934-35
25 T. W. Hill 1933-34
24 G. C. Davis 1932-33
23 W. W. Miller 1931-32
22 D. M. Stephens 1930-31
21 H. W. Muter 1929-30
20 R. M. Brown 1928-29
19 T. E. Storey 1927-28
18 C. A. Rigby 1926-27
17 F. S. Adamson 1925-26
16 F. T. Robertson 1924-25
15 J. G. Mawhinney 1923-24
14 J. F. Muir 1922-23
13 G. E. B. Sinclair 1921-22
12 J. S. Abel 1920-21
11 E. J. Buckingham 1919-20
10 H. D. MacLean 1918-19
9 L. S. Johnstone 1917-18
8 E. A. Childerhose 1916-17
7 W. W. Crouch 1915-16
6 W. G. Mawhinney 1914-15
5 W. S. Collins 1913-14
4 A. Auger 1912-13
3 J. C. Lothian 1911-12
2 A. K. Grimmer 1910-11
1 A. J. Taunton 1909-10
The Legend of the Iron Ring
The story behind the Iron Ring, which all graduate engineers wear on the pinky finger of their working hand, dates back to the turn of 20th Century. It began at what is still the largest cantilever bridge in the world, the Quebec Bridge over the St. Laurence River. This bridge collapsed twice, the first time in August 1907 killing 86 workers and then again in September 1916 killing eleven. Grave errors in the work of engineers was determined to be the cause of failure in both fatal incidents.
In 1917, an identical span was carefully hoisted into place and eventually opened to traffic. The Quebec Bridge remains a physical reminder to Canadian engineers of the tragic cost of human error in engineering work.
The BNAD
The University of Manitoba Engineering Symonized Marching Band was formed in the mid-1950's by a group of Engineering students who felt that spirit in the University was quite lacking. Originally consisting of an array of brass instruments and a mild-mannered percussion section, the band grew in size and grandeur.
Their first performance, originally planned as a march around the Legislative Building, ended with a quite unplanned visit to Government House to perform for the Queen who was then visiting Manitoba. Her Majesty, duly impressed with the outstanding performance of these fine musicians, knighted the entire Band on the spot. With this honour bestowed upon them, the Band set out to inform Canadians of the presence of the University of Manitoba. In the following 20 years, they appeared at Grey Cup Games, Parades, and a host of other places, including the Cascade Inn in Banff.
Currently the Engineering Symonized Marching Band has been building on the foundations laid down by past engineering generations. This includes revamping their musical instrument collection to include new horns, such as the Frosh Horn and the Engimophone. They have been spotted at a number of events -- everything from alumni dinners, Bomber games, Bison sports and the occasional wedding.
If you are interested in getting involved in the University of Manitoba BNAD, please stop by the UMES office, E2-292 and speak with the Spirit Directors or e-mail Spirit.


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Category Archives: Comyns Barbara
Last week, I published part 1 of my favourite reads of 2020, a post focussing on novellas and non-fiction. (If you missed it, you can find it here.)
Today, I'm back with part 2, my favourite novels from a year of reading. My reading has been somewhat erratic in 2020, following the ebb and flow of the lockdown-release cycle we've been navigating this year. Nevertheless, I have managed to read some truly excellent books. So, without further ado, these are the novels I loved, the books that have stayed with me, the ones I'm most likely to recommend to others. As ever, I've summarised each one below, but you can read the full reviews by clicking on the appropriate links.
Business as Usual by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford
This is such a charming book, a wonderful novel in which a young woman, Hilary Fane, sets out on her own, hoping to find her way in the world of work before getting married. The story is told through a series of letters – mostly from Hilary to her parents and fiancé – coupled with the occasional interdepartmental memo from the London department store where she works. In short, the letters chart Hilary's progress in London, the highs and lows of working life and the practicalities of surviving on a meagre wage. What comes through so strongly here is the narrative voice, revealing Hilary to be bright, realistic, witty and self-deprecating; in other words, she is an absolute joy. If you loved Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day or The Diary of a Provincial Lady, chances are you'll enjoy this.
The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns
The novels of Barbara Comyns continue to be a source of fascination for me, characterised as they are by her unique world view, a surreal blend of the macabre and the mundane. The Skin Chairs is a magical novel in which a bright, curious girl must navigate some of the challenges of adolescence. It is by turns funny, eerie, poignant and bewitching. What Comyns captures so well here is how children can often be excellent intuitive judges of character without fully understanding the complexities or underlying motivations at play. A spellbinding read, one that reminds me a little of Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I can't recommend it more highly than that!
A Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my love of Elizabeth Taylor's fiction, the perfectly executed stories of human nature, the small-scale dramas of domestic life, typically characterised by careful observation and insight. First published in 1949, A Wreath of Roses is one of Taylor's earliest novels – and quite possibly her darkest too with its exploration of fear, loneliness, mortality and lies. It also features one of the most striking openings in literature, a genuinely unnerving scene that sets a sinister tone right from the start. A Wreath of Roses is right up there with Mrs Palfrey and The Soul of Kindness for me, top-tier Taylor for sure.
The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge
The centrepiece of this somewhat surreal novel, which takes place in the 1970s, is a staff outing for the employees of a wine-bottling factory. Observing this ill-fated trip feels somewhat akin to watching a slow-motion car crash, with the reader powerless to divert their attention as the horror unfolds. The tone is darkly comic and farcical, a little like a cross between Willy Russell's play Our Day Out and Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party – maybe with a touch of Nuts in May thrown in for good measure. In essence, this is an excellent, well-crafted tragi-comedy, shot through with Bainbridge's characteristically acute insight into human nature. It is the juxtaposition between the ordinary and the absurd that makes this such an unsettling yet compelling read.
The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning
How to do justice to such a deeply rewarding series of novels in just a few sentences? It's nigh on impossible. All I can do is to urge you to read these books for yourself if you haven't done so already. Ostensibly a portrait of a complex marriage unfolding against the backdrop of the looming threat of war, this largely autobiographical series is rich is detail and authenticity, perfectly capturing the tensions and uncertainties that war creates. As ever, Manning excels at creating flawed and nuanced characters that feel thoroughly believable. A transportive read with a particularly vivid sense of place.
The Offing by Benjamin Myers
Set in the summer of 1946, just after the end of the Second World War, The Offing tells the story of an unlikely friendship that develops between two very different individuals, both of whom experience a kind of transformation as a result. In writing this novel, Myers has given us such a gorgeous, compassionate book, one that demonstrates the power of human connection in a damaged world. Alongside its themes of hope, individualism and recovery, this lyrical novel is an evocative paean to the natural world. Fans of A Month in the Country and The Go-Between will likely enjoy this.
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (tr. Archibald Colquhoun)
A beautiful, elegiac novel set in 19th century Sicily, a time when the principality was caught in a period of significant change, one ushered in by the Risorgimento, or unification of Italy. It's a novel that highlights the need for us to adapt if we want certain aspects of our lives to remain the same. The language is especially gorgeous here – sensual, evocative and ornate, frequently tinged with an aching sense of sadness for a vanishing world. Another transportive read, albeit one with an undeniable sense of melancholy.
The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
A sequel to Lehmann's earlier novel, Invitation to the Waltz, in which seventeen-year-old Olivia Curtis is captivated at her first society ball by the dashing Rollo Spencer. Ten years later, a chance encounter brings Olivia back into contact with Rollo, sparking a rush of conflicting emotions – more specifically, the desire to open up vs the tendency towards self-protection. This remarkable book expertly captures the cruelty, frustration and devastation of a doomed love affair in the most glittering prose. The modernity of Lehmann's approach, with its passages of stream-of-consciousness and fluid style, makes the novel feel fresh and alive, well ahead of its time for the mid-1930s.
The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
My fascination with the work of William Trevor continues apace with his 1976 novel, The Children of Dynmouth, the story of a malevolent teenager and the havoc he wreaks on the residents of a sleepy seaside town. It's an excellent book, one that veers between the darkly comic, the deeply tragic and the downright unnerving. What Trevor does so well here is to expose the darkness and sadness that lurks beneath the veneer of respectable society. The rhythms and preoccupations of small-town life are beautifully captured too, from the desolate views of the windswept promenade, to the sleepy matinees at the down-at-heel cinema, to the much-anticipated return of the travelling fair for the summer season. One for Muriel Spark fans, particularly those with a fondness for The Ballad of Peckham Rye.
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
As this brilliant novel opens, Edith Hope – an unmarried writer of romantic fiction – has just been packed off by her respectable, interfering friends to the Hotel du Lac, a rather austere hotel of high repute in the Swiss countryside. Right from the start, it is clear that Edith has been banished from her sector of society, sent away to reflect on her misdemeanours, to become herself again following some undisclosed scandal. (The reason for this exile is eventually revealed, but not until the last third of the book.) Central to the novel is Edith and her consideration of the kind of life she can carve out for herself. It's a truly excellent book, one that throws up so many questions and points for debate – especially on the options open to women in the 1970s/'80s and how these have changed. My third reading of this book, and at last I feel that I've *got* it.
The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Caravaners is a satire of the highest order, not least because the novel's narrator – the German baron, Otto von Ottringel – is a colossal ass; a pompous, insufferable individual with absolutely no self-awareness. The novel focuses on a caravanning holiday through the countryside of Kent, ostensibly to mark Otto's silver wedding anniversary. What von Arnim does so well here is to let the reader see how Otto is perceived by those around him, even though the novel is narrated entirely through the baron's own eyes. In short, this is a brilliantly-written book, one that casts a sharply satirical eye over such subjects as misogyny, class differences, power dynamics in marriage and Anglo-German relations during the early 20th century – not to mention the delights and follies of caravanning in the inclement British weather.
I have long had a fondness for the work of Billy Wilder, the Austrian-born American filmmaker who moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s. The Apartment (1961) is my all-time favourite film – I watch it at least once a year, often on New Year's Eve – while Double Indemnity (1945) and Some Like It Hot (1960) would almost certainly make my top ten. So, a novelisation of Wilder's quest to make his 1978 movie, Fedora was always going to be literary catnip for me. This is a wonderfully charming, warm-hearted book – at once a gentle coming-of-age story and an affectionate portrayal of one of Hollywood's greatest directors – a compassionate, bittersweet novel about ageing, creativity and what happens when an industry changes, leaving a respected artist somewhat high and dry.
So there we have it, my favourite novels from a year of reading. All that remains is for me to wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the year ahead; let's hope it turns out to be significantly less stressful than 2020…
This entry was posted in Backlisted Writers, Bainbridge Beryl, Book Reviews, Books of the Year, Brookner Anita, Coe Jonathan, Comyns Barbara, Lehmann Rosamond, Manning Olivia, Myers Benjamin, Oliver Jane, Stafford Ann, Taylor Elizabeth, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Trevor William, von Arnim Elizabeth and tagged Anita Brookner, Ann Stafford, Barbara Comyns, Benjamin Myers, Beryl Bainbridge, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth von Arnim, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Jane Oliver, Jonathan Coe, Olivia Manning, Rosamond Lehmann, William Trevor on December 22, 2020 by JacquiWine.
The novels of Barbara Comyns continue to be a source of fascination for me, from the wonderfully matter-of-fact Our Spoons Came from Woolworths – widely considered to be a lightly fictionalised account of the author's first marriage – to the evocative Mr Fox, a poignant tale set in the midst of WW2. My latest discovery is The Skins Chairs, first published in 1962 but sadly currently out of print. It's vintage Comyns, shot through with a clever blend of the macabre and the mundane that characterises her work. Needless to say, I absolutely adored it.
The novel is narrated by Frances, a ten-year-old girl with just the right mix of wide-eyed innocence and active curiosity about the world around her. As the story opens, Frances – one of six children – is sent by her mother to stay with the Lawrences, a family of 'horsey' relatives who live in Leicestershire. Aunt Lawrence is a spiteful, domineering woman, intent on belittling Frances and her rather impoverished family, making light of their father and his work for a mattress company. (Frances' father is in fact a legal adviser to the firm, a role that Aunt Lawrence appears to have forgotten, preferring instead to imply he is a lowly labourer. There is quite a lot snobbery in this novel, particularly amongst the Lawrences.) The Lawrence girls – eighteen-year-old Ruby and thirteen-year-old Grace – are little better than their mother, adding to the bleak atmosphere at the rather gothic Tower Hill. It is only once Frances' father dies that the Lawrences begin to show a degree of sympathy for the girl.
While the novel contains a certain amount of plot – mostly revolving around Frances' return to her family and their quest to scrape by in reduced circumstances – it is perhaps more concerned with Frances as an individual and her experiences of the things she encounters. There is such pleasure to be gained from seeing the world through this young girl's eyes, complete with its inherent strangeness and curiosities. Naturally, Comyns conveys this vision with the most wonderful turns of phrase, ranging from the striking to the humorous to the downright surreal. At one point in the story, Ruby takes Frances to the General's house to the see the 'skin chairs', a collection of artefacts brought back from the Boer War. As it turns out, five of the chairs were made from the skins of black men and one from white…
One chair certainly was lighter than the rest and I carefully sat on it, expecting something strange to happen; but it was exactly like sitting in any other uncomfortable chair. My bare arms touched the back and, remembering what it was made of, I stood up and wiped my arms with my handkerchief. With a feeling of awe I gazed at the chairs thinking of the poor skinless bodies buried somewhere in Africa. Did their souls ever come to see what had happened to their skins or had they forgotten all about them? How had the General brought the skins back? And did the workmen who covered the chairs know what gruesome work they were doing? (p. 19)
The narrative is studded with grotesque images, from the infamous skin chairs to the details of Frances' nightmares to the General's contorted face following a severe stroke. All these elements add to the rather morbid feel of the novel as the spectre of death is never far away.
Alongside the eerie imagery, there are various surreal touches dotted through the novel – weirdly off-kilter observations that feel so striking to the reader, particularly given the unvarnished nature of Frances' tone of voice. As with Sophia in Our Spoons, it is the matter-of-factness of Frances' delivery that makes these reflections seem so arresting. In the following passage, Frances is thinking about Mrs Alexander, an eccentric lady with 'a kind of ravaged, fabulous beauty, like some old and exotic doll in a museum, glittering and dusty'. Mrs Alexander has taken a shine to Frances, much to the young girl's concern, particularly given the unsettling nature of the Mrs A's claustrophobic home.
There was a lot about monkeys: her house was full of them. And she had once kept a bear, but people had complained because it used to break into church during the services, and it had to be given to a zoo. 'I sometimes wonder why I ever returned to England, so many unpleasant things happen here.' (pp. 106-107)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Lawrences consider Mrs Alexander to be quite mad; but in truth she is a lonely, unconventional lady, albeit one with outlandish ideas.
What Comyns captures so well in this novel is the way in which children can often be excellent, intuitive judges of character without fully understanding the complexities or underlying motivations at play. Frances knows that Vanda – a somewhat frivolous and careless young widow who lives nearby – is neglectful of her undernourished baby and yet she is not quite old enough to appreciate why this might be the case. Consequently, Frances grows quite attached to young Jane (and vice versa), visiting and helping to take care of her when she can.
Several of the adult characters are pretty frightful, from the venomous Aunt Lawrence with her pretentious ideals to the feckless Vanda whose disregard for Jane results in near tragedy. The most striking exception to this rule is Mr Blackwell, a kindly man who befriends Frances following his move to Springfield (the property once occupied by the General). Mr Blackwell's friendship is a source of much brightness for Frances and her family, easing their money worries following several years of poverty.
Alongside the poignancy and dark humour, there are some beautiful descriptive passages here, packed full of detail on the intricacies of Frances' world. In the following passage, Frances reimagines each room in her childhood home, a technique she uses to stave off the horrific nightmares after her father's death.
To keep myself awake and to calm myself I would go through each room at home so that it almost seemed as if I was there. I tried to recall everything they contained: the yellow rug in the drawing-room, which we used to cut pieces from to make dolls' wigs; the faded morning-room curtains with monkeys climbing up them – it was always a sign that summer was coming when they were hung; the enormous brass bedstead in the spare room, all draped in chintz curtains, with its feather mattress – sometimes we slept there when we were ill, because it was on the sunny side of the house, and Father used to thump the mattress to make a hollow for us to lie in. (p. 30)
In short, this is a magical novel in which a bright, curious girl must navigate some of the challenges of adolescence. It is by turns funny, eerie, poignant and bewitching. A spellbinding read, one that reminds me a little of Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I can't recommend it more highly than that.
The Skin Chairs was published by Virago Books (currently out of print); personal copy.
This entry was posted in Backlisted Writers, Book Reviews, Comyns Barbara and tagged #ReadWomen, Barbara Comyns, Book Review, Fiction, UK, Virago, Virago Modern Classics on April 7, 2020 by JacquiWine.
Mini Reviews – Barbara Comyns and E. C. R Lorac
A couple of additional mini reviews of recent reads – this time novels by the wonderfully off-kilter Barbara Comyns and the British crime writer, E. C. R. Lorac. Enjoy!
Mr Fox by Barbara Comyns (1987)
I discovered this little gem of a novel a few months ago via Heaven Ali's excellent review, which you can find here. It's very much in the style of one of Comyns' earlier novels, Our Spoons Came from Woolworths (1950), a book that made my 'best of' list back in 2017.
Like 'Spoons', Mr Fox features a rather childlike young woman who relates her story in an unassuming, conversational style. As the novel opens, Caroline Seymore and her three-year-old daughter, Jenny, have just been offered a place to live by their 'friend', Mr Fox, who makes his money via various underhand dealings – mostly tarting up dodgy cars plus some black-market activities here and there. (The novel is set at the start of WW2.)
Caroline has been on her own with Jenny for the past three years, trying to make a go of sub-letting rooms in a London house having inherited the lease after her mother's death. Unfortunately for Caroline, the bailiffs and debt-collectors are rapidly closing in, leaving her virtually no other option but to accept Mr Fox's offer however awful that may be.
I knew so little about him [Mr Fox] really. Perhaps he was an awful vicious man, or maybe he was cruel and bad-tempered or mean; perhaps he hoarded things like string and candle-ends in boxes under his bed, or he might even get drunk and beat people. Then I remembered all my creditors and thought perhaps I'd better risk all these things. Nothing could be worse than all those summonses and bowler-hatted debt collectors. (pp. 27-28)
Mr Fox is an odd little man; kindly and generous one minute but prone to moody behaviour the next. In particular, he finds Jenny's constant chattering somewhat annoying, frequently disturbing the household when he wants to enjoy a rest. While Caroline doesn't share a bed with Mr Fox, she is expected to cook his meals – another aspect her benefactor finds fault with. As a consequence, Caroline often feels sad and homesick, even though she has no other home to speak of. There are times when Caroline longs to escape from Mr Fox, but realistically there is nowhere else where she and Jenny can go.
With the advent of war looming on the horizon, Mr Fox decides they all need to get out of London for a while, so he shuts down his dodgy garage, securing a job in an aircraft factory instead. But life in the isolated town of Straws proves terribly grim for Caroline; it's a shabby, dismal place where no one seems to have any spark or money.
I became more and more depressed and never bothered to carry my gas mask any more. It wasn't the war that depressed me so much but life at Straws. It was the most dreary, lonely place in the world, and it made Mr Fox unbearable. He became frightfully bad-tempered and nervy and had completely changed from the dashing kind of crook he used to be; leading an honest life didn't suit him at all. (p. 76)
As Ali has already written about this slim yet very affecting book, I'm not going to dwell on the plot, only to say that we follow Caroline and Jenny as they try to make their way in an uncertain world – sometimes aided and abetted by Mr Fox, other times not. Instead, I'll try to highlight a few things I liked about the novel, just to give you a feel for the style.
Like Sophia in Spoons, Caroline is a very engaging narrator, the childlike naivety and innocence adding greatly to her charm. There are times when Caroline's matter-of-fact tone of voice may seem at odds with the horror of the situations she is describing, but in practice this style of delivery makes her predicament feel all the more horrific. (In an effort to earn her keep with Mr Fox, Caroline spends a terrible week working as a dance hostess in a ghastly club, a role she is ill-equipped for with her innocence and simplicity.)
In spite of the rather bleak subject matter – poverty, homelessness, a desperate reliance on the kindness of others, particularly men – Comyns lightens the tone with some nicely judged humour. There are several moments when Caroline is unintentionally funny, coming out with the most wonderful turns of phrase such as this description of a man who invites her for dinner after they meet in the club.
I came through the main entrance of Rules after getting rather entangled in the swing doors. But there he was, looking like a bulldog crossed with a hot-cross bun. (p. 51)
Comyns' evocation of wartime London is superb, replete with air-raid sirens, explosions and bombed-out houses. There is a truly terrifying scene in which Caroline has to run barefoot while shielding Mr Fox's dog, desperately trying to find shelter during a chaotic raid. Moreover, what comes through very strongly from the narrative is the fluid nature of civilian life during the war. Caroline and Jenny are almost always on the move, barely able to stay more than a few months in any single place. The transient feel of everything – jobs, houses, possessions, even life itself – is both palpable and striking.
I absolutely loved this little novel by Comyns, which is by turns funny, evocative, honest and poignant. The ending in particular is very affecting, perfectly capturing the opportunistic nature of Mr Fox – a man forever on the make, constantly on the lookout for the next lucrative deal.
Fire in the Thatch by E. C. R. Lorac (1946)
I'd been looking to read E. C. R. Lorac (Edith Caroline Rivett) for a while, particularly following positive reports by Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings and one or two other readers on Twitter. So, I was delighted to find a copy of one her novels, Fire in the Thatch, in a local charity shop fairly recently, especially as it was in near-perfect condition. Happily, my first experience of this author's work was a great success, definitely one I'd recommend to others.
In short, Fire in the Thatch is a very entertaining entrant in the British Library Crime Classics series, a traditional Golden-Age novel to brighten a dull weekend. When Little Thatch cottage is destroyed in a fire, killing its new tenant, the reclusive army veteran Nicholas Vaughan, the dogged Chief Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to investigate.
Set in the beautiful countryside of Devon, this is a thoroughly intriguing mystery with interesting, distinctive characters (many of whom are shadowy), and a deep-rooted sense of place. Lorac demonstrates a real appreciation of the farming community's passion for the landscape and traditional customs. These aspects of the novel are beautifully portrayed. The writing is excellent too, very engaging and precise.
Hayley at Desperate Reader has posted a lovely review of this, as has Guy, so I shall direct you to their posts. In the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye out for more books by Lorac, particularly those featuring Macdonald, the rather engaging detective at the heart of Thatch – Lorac's compelling portrayal of this determined character is one of the book's many delights.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Comyns Barbara, Lorac E. C. R. and tagged #ReadWomen, Barbara Comyns, Book Review, British Library Crime Classics, Cosy Crime, Crime, E. C. R. Lorac, Fiction, Methuen, UK, WW2 on June 25, 2019 by JacquiWine.
Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns
Another of my reads for the Classics Club, Our Spoons Came from Woolworths is narrated by Sophia, a young woman who is looking back on her unhappy marriage to a rather feckless artist by the name of Charles Fairclough. In writing this book, the British-born author Barbara Comyns has drawn heavily on her own life experience – it is, by all accounts, a lightly fictionalised version of her first marriage, a relationship characterised by tensions over money worries and various infidelities on her husband's part. Although it took me a couple of chapters to fall into line with Sophia's unassuming conversational style, I really warmed to her character, particularly as the true horror of her story became apparent. This is a wonderful book, by turns humorous, sad, shocking and heartwarming.
When young Sophia meets fellow artist, Charles, on a train, she soon falls for him against the backdrop of a glorious English summer. In spite of opposition from virtually everyone in Charles's family, the couple marry very quickly and find a flat in North London which they furnish with secondhand pieces, all painted a beautiful duck-egg green. Their lifestyle is rather bohemian to say the least.
Right from the start, money is in very short supply. While Sophia has a regular job at a commercial studio, Charles considers himself to be a more 'serious' artist, reliant on the occasional commission or ad-hoc sale for income. In reality, he contributes next to nothing to the household finances – and when he does, it is quickly frittered away on luxuries such as paint, new brushes and restaurant dinners. For all her charms and initial optimism about married life, Sophia is rather naïve, and the first half of the novel is peppered with humorous moments as she tries to get to grips with marriage and running the house as well as being the main breadwinner in the family. Impractical advice from various members of Charles's interfering family does little to help matters, especially when it's delivered in a rather condescending fashion – here's a typical example.
Although most of Charles's relations came from Wiltshire they used to come to London very frequently. They all talked and asked questions about our financial position and took the line of "I hope you are looking after dear Charles properly", or "What a lucky girl you are to have married into our family." In those days I was too timid to say much, but I used to resent it all the more and sometimes, after they left, I would be nervy and resentful with Charles. Also they would keep suggesting impractical ways we could earn extra money. They sent cuttings from the Daily Mail about how I could make sweets or gloves at home and make a fortune, or complicated rackets for Charles to sell note-cases to our friends on commission. As none of our friends had any notes, he wouldn't have done very well from it. (pp. 20-21)
Things take a distinct turn for the worse when Sophia finally discovers she is expecting a baby (cue some amusing scenes as she wonders why she has been feeling poorly all the time). Charles is pretty horrified by the prospect of becoming a father, and Sophia herself has no real understanding of the practicalities of motherhood. In short, they are both completely unprepared for what lies ahead. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but feel for Sophia when I read the following passage.
Before I married Charles I used to hope I would have masses of children. I thought it would be nice always to have at least one baby and quite a number of older children all developing in their individual ways, but before we were married Charles told me he never wanted to have any children, and I saw they would not fit in with the kind of life we would lead, so I just hoped none would come to such unsuitable parents—anyway, not for years. I had a kind of idea if you controlled your mind and said "I won't have any babies" very hard, they most likely wouldn't come. I thought that was what was meant by birth-control, but by this time I knew that idea was quite wrong. (p. 26)
When Sophia informs her boss that she is pregnant, he responds by telling her she might as well leave at the next holiday. We are in the early 1930s here, many years before the introduction of maternity pay and employment protection for expectant mothers. With Sophia out of a job and Charles swanning about all day nurturing his artistic tendencies, the couple's prospects are very poor indeed.
Much to Charles's dismay, Sophia has a little boy which they name Sandro. He is a fragile little thing, very quiet and gentle and almost certainly malnourished. In spite of all this, Charles doesn't warm to the child. Not for the first time, Comyns pulled me up short with one of Sophia's revelations about life with her husband with all his blatant insensitivity.
Charles still disliked him [Sandro], but in spite of this made some drawings of us together, so I hoped eventually he would get used to him. At the moment I felt I had most unreasonably brought some awful animal home, and that I was in disgrace for not taking it back to the shop where it came from. (p. 64)
I don't want to reveal too much more about the plot. It might spoil things, I think. Suffice it to say that the situation gradually deteriorates over the course of the next couple of years. While there are occasional periods of brightness – an inheritance from Sophia's aunt and the occasional commission for Charles provide brief respites from poverty – they are sporadic and relatively short-lived. All too soon Sophia finds herself desperately scrabbling around for money again, a situation which leads to the re-emergence of tensions in the marriage. She is forced to find another job to support the family as Charles won't (or can't) hack it in a commercial studio. As the story moves towards a somewhat inevitable crisis point, the mood darkens considerably, and the humour that characterises the first half of the novel gradually falls away. In this scene, Sophia reflects on her first day back at work as a commercial artist. Once again, Charles's selfishness is all too apparent…
The first day there, I had to walk to work because we had no money in the house. Charles promised he would bring some in time for lunch, but, of course, didn't, and I was too shy of the other girls to borrow any, so I became rather hungry and when it was time to leave I waited to see if he would come to fetch me, but again he failed me, so I had to walk home, getting more and more hungry on the way, and angry, too. When I arrived home I saw Charles through the uncurtained window. He was sitting reading with a tray of tea-things beside him. He looked so comfortable, I became even more angry, and dashed in like a whirlwind and picked up a chair and hit him with it. He did look startled. It was the first time I had done anything like that, and he was disgusted with me. I was ashamed of myself, too, but felt too tired to apologise, so just went to bed and wished I was dead. (pp. 100-101)
Hooray for Sophia! I think I would have sideswiped him with that chair, too.
This is an excellent novel, one that I enjoyed a lot more than I had expected to. For some reason, I had got it into my head that Comyns would be too left-field or eclectic for my tastes. How wrong could I be! I found Sophia a rather endearing narrator – yes, she is gullible and naïve, but she is also sympathetic and good-natured at heart. I couldn't help but warm to her matter-of-fact, childlike narrative, a style that makes her revelations all the more shocking and impactful when they come, like little bolts out of the blue.
One of the things I like most about this novel is the way Comyns weaves various points of social commentary into Sophia's story, all grounded in personal experience no doubt. There are some truly shocking and degrading scenes depicting Sophia's treatment in the maternity wards following her admission to give birth. Several of the nurses are cruel and insensitive to her condition, and she is forced to carry her own suitcase from one room to another during a seemingly endless sequence of transfers through the hospital. The lack of proper care doesn't end there either; this next passage highlights the lack of support and information available to young mothers following the birth.
We had no money at all and the milkman wouldn't leave any milk because we hadn't given him any money lately. He was quite nice about it and said we could have some free milk every day if we applied to the council. Mothers with new babies were allowed one pint a day if they had no money. The council went up in my estimation when I heard about this. Up till now I had thought it was almost a criminal offence to have a baby. All the same I did not apply for the free milk, because I was afraid they would take the baby away and put it in a home on the grounds of its parents having no visible means of support. (p. 65)
I've probably made this novel sound terribly grim, but it isn't at all. There are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments here, especially in the first half of the book. More importantly, perhaps, we know from the opening page that there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Sophia. By the end of the novel, she is in a happier place having learnt some important lessons along the way. I guess that's as much as any of us can hope for in life.
Our Spoons Came from Woolworths is published by NYRB Classics; personal copy.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Comyns Barbara and tagged #ReadWomen, Barbara Comyns, Book Review, Classics Club, Fiction, NYRB Classics on May 9, 2017 by JacquiWine.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Get Ready for Get Out With These Black Horror Movies
By Jordan Minor 02.23.2017 :: 12:00PM EST 02.23.2017
Sorry Haters, Zoe Kravitz Makes Catwoman Black Again in 'The Batman'
Blade Ice Skates Uphill in 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3'
As Eddie Murphy once explained, white people and horror movies get along pretty well. When you want to get spooked at the theater you probably end up watching some movie where white people investigate a haunted house or sexy white teenagers get slaughtered by some kind of monster. In the Skeleton Key, two Black ghosts who have been hopping between bodies throughout the years lament that no Black victims stay long enough to get possessed, forcing the former slaves to look like Kate Hudson for decades. The one-time horror parody empire that was Scary Movie was built from an African-American perspective on the white genre from the Wayans Brothers.
However, horror movies are by no means exclusively for white people. In fact, wonderful art can emerge when you combine horror tropes with the Black experience. And I'm not just talking about Boo! A Madea Halloween. The thing is, the truth of the history of Black people in America and throughout the world is already so naturally terrifying, you don't need to embellish it with that much supernatural nonsense to make it totally bone-chilling. Twelve Years A Slave is scarier than most horror movies. A white-hooded Klansmen with a southern accent is scarier than a ghost. Even a Black superhero like Cyborg taps this into this. We watch his body get torn apart and reassembled as a tool for outside forces against his will. His heroism comes from reclaiming his own Black body and identity and agency.
This week the new, hotly anticipated Black horror movie Get Out hits theaters. From writer/director Jordan Peele, one-half of comedy duo Key and Peele, the film is about a Black dude who visits his white girlfriend's family in a town where Black people seem oddly complacent and tend to disappear. It basically looks like the Stepford Wives but with racism instead of sexism. Adding race to an established horror trope is a big part of the Black horror tradition, but there are Black horror movies that weave original stories as well. So get ready for Get Out with these Black horror movies!
Blacula
One of the original Black horror icons, Blacula is more than just an amazing pun of a name. The movie connects to traditional Dracula mythos by making its monster the victim, an African prince trying to stop the slave trade, a victim of the Count. But while Blacula is the most famous Black vampire, he isn't the only one.
The 1973 horror film The Exorcist is one of the most famous and acclaimed horror movies of all time. The 1974 blaxploitation horror film Abby is basically the same movie but with an explicitly African sex poltergeist of the Yoruba religion as the demonic spirit that possesses an innocent girl.
Toni Morrison's skills as a writer, at least in my opinion, come from her ability to marry the real and ordinary pain that can occur in Black life with subtle elements of the fantastic. Beloved is about a former slave named Sethe who encounters a mysterious woman who appears to be the reincarnation of her dead daughter. Supernatural shenanigans and crushing real guilt combine in a legitimately fantastic piece of literature later turned into a film starring Oprah Winfrey.
Bones is a movie where Snoop Dogg plays a resurrected 1970s gangster getting revenge on those who killed him. Pam Grier plays his girlfriend. You don't really need to know much else.
Eddie Murphy is one of comedy's biggest stars. Wes Craven is a master of horror. But when they teamed up for the horror-comedy Vampire in Brooklyn, the results weren't great. Still, seeing Eddie Murphy as basically Blacula is a lot of fun.
Black Devil Doll
Not to be confused with sex cult blaxploitation movie Black Devil Doll From Hell, Black Devil Doll is a more political Black horror movie from 2008. Think of an evil doll movie like Child's Play or Puppet Master, but the doll is possessed by the soul of a radical militant Black Panther-type, the political party not the superhero.
Spawn is technically a comic book superhero movie but the plot, involving a slain Marine who comes back to life with infernal powers, certainly has horror elements. Meanwhile, no one will doubt the blackness of Black Dynamite himself, Michael Jai White.
George Romero's grandfather of all zombie movies isn't explicitly about race, but casting a Black guy as lead character Ben in 1968 of all years means race isn't a non-issue. After all, Ben isn't killed by zombies but by scared white people with guns. Also, before zombie lore was codified in films like this, zombies were mostly associated with Haitian voodoo folklore.
Tony Todd has never been better than when playing this slasher spirit who appears whenever you say his name five times in a mirror. His domain is the infamous low-income Chicago housing project of Cabrini-Green, where his terror isn't too much exaggerated compared to what residents face in their everyday lives. By starring a white woman college graduate who stumbles into urban Black folklore involving a Black supernatural killer, Candyman makes some statements.
Ganja and Hess/Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
Ganja and Hess is a 1970s blaxploitation movie about an African dagger that turns victims into vampires. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is a secret remake of that movie directed by Spike Lee after a successful crowdfunding campaign.
One more vampire story, Fledgling isn't a movie but a novel by the great sci-fi writer Octavia Butler. Butler last book, Fledgling is about an ancient vampiric species called the Ina. But while most Ina are white, the main character Shori looks like a little Black girl. Someone should make this movie and restart the vampire craze all over again.
Leprechaun in the Hood
Most horror movie franchises go to space when they run out of ideas. Leprechaun did that and then went to the inner city, where the obsession with bling rivals his love of pots o' gold. I'm sorry. Plus, Black people and the Irish have both been looked down on in America. Still curious? Ice-T is in this movie. They even made a sequel called Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood. I'm so sorry.


Taiwan drama series Skip Beat is now showing on 8TV on every Saturday from 6.:30pm since 26 May 2012 which i'm not aware.
High school graduate Gong Xi gives up her chances for university in order to support her childhood friend and romantic goal, Bu Po Shang, in his pop idol career. Upon arriving in Taipei, Gong Xi starts working on multiple jobs in order to support Bu Po Shang, whose popularity quickly rises, eventually becoming one of the top idols in Taiwan. One day, Gong Xi catches Bu Po Shang flirting with his manager, and learns that he only used her so she can help him with his living expenses. Heart-broken and betrayed, Gong Xi vows to get revenge by becoming a bigger star than him. Gong Xi auditions for L.M.E., Bu Po Shang's rival talent agency, and joins L.M.E.'s new-found department "Love Me". At L.M.E., Gong Xi meets famous actor Dun Helian, who eventually falls in love with her.
A bright and intelligent high school graduate who gives up her chances for university to support her childhood friend and love interest, Bu Po Shang, in his pop idol career. She later finds out that Bu Po Shang only used her for his own selfish reasons and had no intentions to spend the rest of his life with her. Devastated and vengeful, Gong Xi vows that she will exact revenge. Bu Po Shang tells her that the only way to do this is to join the entertainment industry and defeat him. Gong Xi immediately auditions for L.M.E., Bu Po Shang's rival talent agency, and is accepted into the company's new-found department, Love Me (Chinese: 愛我吧部).
A famous young actor who takes his profession very seriously. He is one of the biggest stars in Taiwan and is under the same talent agency as Gong Xi. Although he maintains a perfect public image, he initially shows signs of distaste towards Gong Xi, and is disgusted by her reasons for joining the show business. However, he soon realizes Gong Xi's talent in acting and begins to support her endeavors. He eventually falls in love with Gong Xi, but she is too concentrated on her motives to notice his pursuits.
Born Shang Jieyong (尚界勇), Bu Po Shang is Gong Xi's childhood friend and love interest. Although egotistical, arrogant, and cocky, he is an extremely talented musician. Fully aware of Gong Xi's romantic feelings for him, he successfully convinces Gong Xi to travel with him to Taipei to support him financially while he focuses on developing his singing career. He ruthlessly deserts Gong Xi after becoming famous, and tells her that she should join the entertainment industry if she wants revenge. Upon seeing Gong Xi's transformation, Bu Po Shang realizes that he had more feelings for her than he originally thought. He holds great animosity towards Dun Helian because of his popularity and his close relationship with Gong Xi.
A young rising star who attends the same auditions as Gong Xi. She is desperate for a successful acting career and initially despises Gong Xi for standing in her way. Similar to Gong Xi, she joins the "Love Me" department of L.M.E. to touch up on her acting ability. After working together in various projects, Gong Xi and Nanqin develop a deep friendship.


The potential of hydrophobically-modified poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) as a shear-responsive, self-associative hydrogel for ophthalmic applications is demonstrated. Hydrophobic modification was achieved via random copolymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone with N-vinylformamide, the latter of which can be hydrolyzed to expose a desired degree of reactive amine groups permitting grafting of alkyl chlorides of varying alkyl chain lengths. The resulting materials formed highly shear-responsive physical hydrogels, exhibiting tunable shear thinning over 4-5 decades of viscosity from infinite shear to zero shear conditions that facilitates lubrication upon blinking and/or facile injection or drop-based delivery to the anterior or posterior segments of the eye. Viscosity changes due to self-association over time can also be tuned by changing the length of the hydrophobe, with C18-grafted materials exhibiting prolonged thickening over several weeks to form extremely stiff hydrogels and shorter grafts equilibrating significantly faster but forming weaker gels. The hydrogels remained transparent even at very high polymer concentrations (20 wt%) and are demonstrated to facilitate controlled release of a model drug (doxorubicin). The polymers exhibit minimal cytotoxicity in vitro to human corneal epithelial cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells, particularly when lower molecular weight backbone polymers were used. In vivo assessments in rabbits indicated no significant conjunctival edema or redness, secretion, corneal opacity, or iris involvement upon anterior application. Following intravitreal injection in rat eyes, no opacification of the lens, cornea or vitreous, nor any morphological or functional change to the posterior segment was observed. Examination of wholemount tissues and histology demonstrated no adverse effect from the injection or deposition of material. As such, these shear-thinning materials offer potential for drug delivery in both the anterior and posterior segments or as a vitreal replacement that can be easily administered or removed.


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The Biggest Energy Surprises of 2022
From a dumb Republican war on investing to nuclear energy's renaissance, here are some of the historic moments from this year.
Molly Taft
The sun rises behind steam coming from a coal-fired power plant and wind turbines in Niederaussem, Germany in November 2022.
Photo: Michael Probst (AP)
It's been a hell of a year in energy. 2022 was full of historic changes—and quite a few surprises—as the world grappled with an energy crisis and reached a turning point in the energy transition. Here, we break down the top moments that made our eyebrows shoot up.
War in Ukraine Prompts a Crisis
List slides
An anti-war protester in France in February.
Photo: Fred Scheiber/SIPA (AP)
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February rocked the world in many ways—including the energy space, where it left an indelible mark on the rest of the year. Oil prices were already high at the start of this year, thanks to a number of factors, but cutting off Russian gas supplies, which provided about 40% of Europe's total imported gas at the beginning of the year, catapulted the world into an energy crisis and sent energy prices soaring throughout the summer.
Heading into 2022, the conflict is still dragging on and, experts say, could cause serious issues with energy supply in Europe this winter if problems arise. It's also led to windfall profits for the oil and gas industry. But the conflict has helped kick off innovation in the energy space, as governments scramble to find alternative fuels and begin the clean energy transition in earnest.
U.S. Passes First Ever Climate Law
President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin at a September White House celebration of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Photo: Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO (AP)
More than 30 years after scientists began sounding the alarm on climate change at an international level, the U.S. has decided to do something about it.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in September, emerged from the ashes of the ill-fated Build Back Better Act, the Biden administration's first effort to address climate change. For months, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat who was the deciding vote in a split Senate, kept any hope of climate legislation hostage for months as he extracted favors for his dirty funders and waffled over certain provisions; early in the summer, Manchin said he would not vote for the Build Back Better bill with its existing climate and tax provisions intact. But in a July surprise, Manchin worked with Democratic leaders to produce the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates $370 billion in tax cuts, rebates, and other investments to combat climate change and kickstart the energy transition.
It's the best climate bill the U.S. has ever passed because it is, to date, the only climate bill the U.S. has ever passed. But despite Manchin's dramatics, signing it into law was the easy part. Next year will see the real beginning of the implementation of the bill's wide-ranging mandates—and resistance from Republicans, who seem poised to sniff out any issues with renewable energy entities receiving government money. Buckle up.
War on ESG Spreads
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference.
Photo: LM Otero (AP)
At the start of 2021, it really looked for a moment like capitalism could help save us. Big businesses were making net zero pledges and vowing to do their part to solve the climate crisis, while environmental and social governance—a set of principles intended to help corporations make ethical investments—was gaining traction in companies across the world. When Texas's Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in 2021 first proposed that the state stop doing business with firms that "boycott" oil and gas companies—legislation modeled on a doomed bill to punish companies that didn't support Israel—it was mostly seen as a ludicrous proposition.
But that idea, ridiculous as it may be, went into implementation in Texas and caught fire among red states, as the right turned to bullying financial firms into not caring about climate change again. Now, more than 15 states have laws on the books or legislation proposed that would enact similar policies, anti-ESG talking points have entered right-wing television, investment funds have been started that specifically exclude ESG investors—and big businesses like Vanguard and BlackRock are signaling that they're looking to wiggle out or downplay their climate commitments.
World Reconsiders Nuclear
One of the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors in in Avila Beach, CA.
Photo: Michael A. Mariant (AP)
Before this year, the fate of Diablo Canyon, California's last remaining nuclear plant, seemed sealed: the plant would retire in 2025, thanks to competition from other energy sources, expensive repairs, and concerns about its location. But at the beginning of September, legislators voted to extend a lifeline to the plant, which provided 9% of California's electricity in 2021, allowing it to close in 2030.
California isn't alone in giving nuclear another shot. Amid the energy crisis and a resurgence of popular support for nuclear energy, governments from Germany to Japan this year reconsidered closure dates for their existing plants, while the Biden administration made $6 billion available to help bail out the nation's struggling plants. And momentum and investment are also building for advanced nuclear technologies.
SPR Dips to Lowest Point in History
A silhouetted technician works on a wellhead of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Photo: AP (AP)
Amid soaring gas prices, and with his political party facing a tough midterm election, President Joe Biden this earlier year announced a plan to release 180 million barrels of oil over a period of several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the U.S.'s stockpile of emergency oil supplies kept in underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas. By the time the planned release was done, the Reserve had dropped to its lowest levels since it was started in the 1970s during that decade's energy crisis. (There's still quite a lot of oil left in those caverns: even at its lowest levels, there was still around 400 million barrels in the SPR.)
Releasing oil from a national energy reserve isn't unusual during an energy crisis—even if it's by an administration that has supposedly made climate change a top priority. But the SPR's new low levels illustrate what a whiplash few years it's been in the energy space. Less than three years ago, as the pandemic sent oil prices into the negative, the Trump administration was offering to fill up the SPR (the move was ultimately blocked by Democrats in Washington, who recognized it as a bailout for the struggling oil industry). The administration has already started buying oil to replenish the SPR, but with energy prices as wild as they have been over the past few years, anything could happen.
Weather Wreaked Havoc on Renewables...
Low water levels on the Jialing River in China's Chongqing Municipality in August.
Photo: Mark Schiefelbein (AP)
Across the world this summer, climate change supercharged extreme weather that led to droughts, wildfires, and floods. Ironically, that weather also affected the clean energy we need to fight further warming. Droughts and soaring temperatures in places including China and Spain caused hydropower output to plummet. Warm rivers in places like France, meanwhile, drove some nuclear plants offline as they were unable to keep cool. These stresses helped to drive up demand for dirty fuels like coal.
...But Renewables Held the Tide
Solar panels sit atop homes in California.
Photo: Rich Pedroncelli (AP)
Even with those challenges, renewables had a great year. In countries across the world, wind, solar, and other sources helped fill gaps in power supply caused by the energy crisis. The International Energy Agency said earlier this month that renewable energy will overtake coal as the world's biggest source of electricity generation by 2025, and that between 2023 and 2027, the sector is expected to grow 30% more than the agency predicted just a year ago, thanks to the huge amount of investments made in renewables as governments grappled with the energy crisis.


Dylan Long has come out strong at the opening round of the 2010 Super X series at Newcastle on 16 October. Long drew equal on points for the Super X Series in 2009, racing with injury throughout that series and was keen to make amends in 2010 aiming for the series win.
"It was awesome to finish the final with a win at Newcastle. My day didn't start that well, there were a few hiccups along the way like getting caught up in the first turn pile up in the heats, but we pushed through for a sweet result in the end' said Long.


Providers were more miserly about ordering tests when they know ahead of time how much they would cost, a study found.
To determine whether providing costs of tests would reduce the number of laboratory tests ordered, researchers conducted a controlled clinical trial among physicians and nonphysicians using computerized order entry at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Researchers randomly assigned 61 diagnostic laboratory tests to an "active" arm (fee displayed) or to a control arm (fee not displayed). No fee data were displayed for six months, from November 2008 through May 2009, and then fee data was displayed from November 2009 through May 2010.
Results appeared online April 15 at JAMA Internal Medicine.
When fees were displayed, rates of test ordering fell from 3.72 tests per patient-day in the baseline period to 3.40 tests per patient-day in the intervention period (8.59% decrease; 95% confidence interval [CI], -8.99% to -8.19%). When fees weren't displayed, ordering increased from 1.15 to 1.22 tests per patient-day from the baseline period to the intervention period (5.64% increase; 95% CI, 4.90% to 6.39%) (P less than .001 for difference over time between active and control tests).
First author Leonard S. Feldman, MD, FACP, and co-authors noted that the six-month intervention resulted in a $400,000 net charge reduction.
"If the intervention is broadened, targeting the most frequent tests would probably yield the most success because the expensive tests are ordered too infrequently to affect outcomes significantly," the authors wrote. "It is notable that we offered no direct or indirect incentives for changing ordering behavior, suggesting that physicians can act in a cost-conscious manner even without direct incentives."


2020 Jeep Gladiator Release Date And Price – Jeep put in quite a few years only on booking the new pickup, but a short time ago, we discovered rumors about its debut in 2019 while that unique Jeep Gladiator. Fiat Chrysler Autos talk about that the company begins its production in Toledo along with the Wrangler SUV.
The 2020 Jeep Gladiator is the new version of Jeep, that can make the high light a part of the remarkable pieces to lure the jeep darlings. Before you-you could make your mind to have this vehicle in your carport, merely let us discover a few of areas of this unbelievable, snazzy and extremely-ongoing variant of a Jeep vehicle.
Jeep Gladiator may well be the best answer that 2020 Jeep Gladiator could do to save their pickup department. It is going to take on the most recent long-lasting design as good as the formidable glance. It will probably be carried out with the most popular capabilities. Their focus is regarding how to produce hard and average bodywork. If you see the top area of the car, it can remind you of the Wrangler. Nonetheless, it has one thing several around the brow simply because it has a different fender with the new design that sustains projector lamps to combine. The back again is the principal emphasize. You will see no standard roofing, entry doors and rear opportunities as in advance of as it will likely be designed with a mattress.
To access, you can find two little doorways at the rear so you may go to the rear seat community. Further, it has a tremendous extra wheel at the side area of the car. 2020 Jeep Gladiator Interior If you test the cabin, it will also help remind you to the Jeep Wrangler. It consists of distinct seat design with the added sleep for the rear that will make the rear seats a little significantly less confident mainly because is only intended for small to medium-sized consumers and little tours. Good, it is a pickup, and also it is not the fundamental issue in the event it is about the rear contentment. The bed furniture inside of 2020 Jeep Gladiator is modular bed so you can change the job according to your preferences. It is easy to bring the two chairs to the rear to present more area.
As about the engine, the brand new Jeep Gladiator will probably be attached with the 2.4-liter 4-cylinder machine, and the approach is V6 Pentastar. We also discovered a significant number of stories about the diesel engine nevertheless we uncovered no trustworthy information accessible about it. At this time, we think that the company can provide it with a new automatic transmission that you will find advisable arrive as necessary and the manual transmission is generally the approach.
Jeep Gladiator is possible to be presented in the secondly fifty percent of-the second year with the price that must be less than $30,000 for the base.


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Cicilline Statement on War Powers Vote
WASHINGTON – Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) Chair David N. Cicilline (RI-01) issued the following statement today:
"There is no question that President Trump's directive to kill a high-ranking Iranian general was a strategic setback. It forced us to suspend operations against ISIS. It led to Iran announcing it would no longer adhere to any of the limits imposed on its nuclear weapons program. It damaged our relationship with Iraq's government, resulted in a military strike on American bases, and could result in thousands more troops being sent to the region. In short, it was dangerous, reckless, and made America less safe."
"After three years, it's clear the President does not have a strategy when it comes to the Middle East. Today, we are making clear that Congress will not authorize another endless, unnecessary war in that part of the world."


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India was the world's third-biggest steel manufacturer in 2016.
The development in this Indian industrial segment has been driven by residential accessibility of crude materials, for example, press metal and practical work.
Therefore, the steel division has been a noteworthy supporter of India's assembling yield.
The Indian steel industry is exceptionally present day with best in class plants. It has dependably strived for consistent modernization and up-degree of more seasoned plants and higher vitality productivity levels.
The iron&steel industry in India is a standout amongst the most critical enterprises in India.
Amid 2014 through 2015, India was the third biggest maker of crude iron&steel and the biggest maker of wipe press on the planet.
The business delivered 91.46 million tons of aggregate completed steel-n-iron and 9.7 million tons of pig press iron.
The Ministry of Steel industry in India is worried about: the coordination and arranging of the development and improvement of this industry in the nation, both in the general population and private divisions; detailing of approaches regarding generation, evaluating, dispersion, import, and fare of iron&steel, Ferro composites, and refractories.
Advancement of info enterprises identifying with press metal, manganese mineral, chrome metal, and refractories and so forth., required primarily in this business.
Most iron&steel in India is created from press ore.
India is relied upon to wind up noticeably the second-biggest maker of it on the planet by 2018, in light of expanded limit expansion in the reckoning of forthcoming interest, and the new strategy, that has been endorsed by the Union Cabinet in May 2017, is required to support India's production.
Huge extension for development is offered by India's nearly low per capita steel utilization and the normal ascent in utilization because of expanded framework development and the flourishing vehicle and railroads parts.
India is the world's largest manufacturer of sponge iron with the coal-based route which accounts for appx 90% of total production in India.
1.Mini Steel Plant which is generally smaller in size, use sponge iron and scrap of steel for production with the help of electric furnaces.
They use alloy and mild steel of particular specification. In India 650 plants of this type could be found.
2.Integrated Steel Plant are the larger ones. It is the complete package from molding, rolling and putting together of raw material.
Iron&steel scrap is used with the basic iron and blast furnace.
There are more than 5 SAIL industrial plants in the country.
1.The industry was licensed and decontrolled in the year 1992.
2.In 2014-15, manufacturing of the steel was about 91.45 MT(Million tonnes), 4.3% growth has been seen in 2013-14.
3. 9.7 MT of pig Iron production was there in 2014-15 after a growth of 22% in 2013-14.
4. During January-March 2017 India's crude-steel manufacturing has taken a rise from 10.8 percent on year to 25.75 MT.
5. During April 2017 net production grew from 5.4 percent to 8.107 MT year-on-year.
1.By 2018 India is expected to become the second largest producer in the world due to the high increase of the upcoming demand.
2.This has been approved in 2017 by Union Cabinet of India and is most likely to raise the net production.
scope for the growth of this sector could be offered in the country.


We had a beautiful May Day. Not a lot to say... I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
Mama hen had her first baby! If you will recall we recently had a muscovy duck sitting. She made her nest in the shed with the sheep and refused to be moved. I thought all would be fine but when I brought her food and water the sheep trampled a couple of her eggs and, though I tried to move her to a safer spot she would have none of it. Fortunately she had only been on the eggs a short while and they hadn't begun developing.
Well, about a week later our ever broody gold laced wyandotte got her first chance to sit on fertile eggs. I really should have written this down because I wasn't expecting them for another week or so! So far we have one hatched. See it right there under mama's wing? She has seven more in her clutch.. I do hope most of them hatch!


Above are examples of poems about wastebin. This list of poems is composed of the works of modern international poet members of PoetrySoup. Read short, long, best, famous, and modern examples of wastebin poetry. This list of works is an excellent resource for examples of these types of poems.
Inching his way to and fro with a heavy sigh.
Square in the stench of that which we both saw.
Of parked cars he could not afford to have bought.
The puff of a stick whose toke is toxic smoke.
He relieved the box of the lid which locked its metal.
For that which one has, whom another lacks, is pleasure.
Into this wastebin full of rubbish made of that which has been disregarded.
A rummage in the trash to have a chance on Earth, as if by rebirth.
My applause had turned into disgrace unbound.
And eyed it 'fore he lit it as if he found a million in the greenest cash.
For when I saw his eyes I saw that they were mine, but only clearer.


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The storm continued to crawl westward, dumping more than 30 inches of rain in spots since Friday, and fears of historic flooding grew. Tens of thousands were ordered evacuated from communities along the state's steadily rising rivers — with the Cape Fear, Little River, Lumber, Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers all projected to burst their banks.
More:Florence to move over York County late Monday
More:Red Lion storm chasers meet Florence in N.C.
In Wilmington, with roads leading in and out of the city underwater and streams still swelling upward, residents waited for hours outside stores and restaurants for basic necessities like water. Police guarded the door of one store, and only 10 people were allowed inside at a time.
Woody White, chairman of the board of commissioners of New Hanover County, said officials were planning for food and water to be flown into the coastal city of nearly 120,000 people.
"Our roads are flooded," he said. "There is no access to Wilmington."
About 70 miles (115 kilometers) away from the coast, residents near the Lumber River stepped from their homes directly into boats floating in their front yards; river forecasts showed the scene could be repeated in towns as far as 250 miles inland as waters rise for days.
Downgraded to a tropical depression overnight, Florence was still massive. Radar showed parts of the sprawling storm over six states, with North and South Carolina in the bull's-eye.
Meanwhile, half way around the world, Typhoon Mangkhut barreled into southern China on Sunday after lashing the Philippines with strong winds and heavy rain that left dozens dead. More than 2.4 million people were evacuated from China's southern Guangdong province ahead of the massive typhoon, the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades.
In North Carolina, fears of what could be the worst flooding in the state's history led officials to order tens of thousands to evacuate, though it wasn't clear how many had fled or even could. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, said officials were focused on finding people and rescuing them.
"We'll get through this. It'll be ugly, but we'll get through it," Long told NBC's "Meet The Press."
President Donald Trump said federal emergency workers, first responders and law enforcement officials were "working really hard." As the storm "begins to finally recede, they will kick into an even higher gear. Very Professional!" he said in a tweet.
The storm's death toll climbed to 15 when a pickup truck ran off Interstate 20 in South Carolina and struck an overpass support, killing the driver. Earlier, authorities said a man drowned after his pickup truck flipped into a drainage ditch along a flooded South Carolina road, and two people died from inhaling carbon monoxide from a generator in their home.
Victor Merlos was overjoyed to find a store open for business in Wilmington since he had about 20 relatives staying at his apartment, which still had power. He spent more than $500 on cereal, eggs, soft drinks and other necessities, plus beer.
"I have everything I need for my whole family," said Merlos. Nearby, a Waffle House restaurant limited breakfast customers to one biscuit and one drink, all take-out, with the price of $2 per item.
Florence was still spinning slowly atop the Carolinas as it pulled warm water from the ocean and hurled it onshore. Kenneth Campbell had donned waterproof waders intending to check out his home in Lumberton, but he didn't bother when he saw the Coast Guard and murky waters in his neighborhood.
"I'm not going to waste my time. I already know," he said.
As rivers swelled toward record levels, state regulators and environmental groups were monitoring the threat from gigantic hog and poultry farms located in low-lying, flood-prone areas.
The industrial-scale farms contain vast pits of animal feces and urine that can pose a significant pollution threat if they are breached or inundated by floodwaters. In past hurricanes, flooding at dozens of farms also left hundreds of thousands of dead hogs, chickens and other decomposing livestock bobbing in floodwaters.
Stream gauges across the region showed water levels rising steadily, with forecasts calling for rivers to crest Sunday and Monday at or near record levels. The Defense Department said about 13,500 military personnel had been assigned to help relief efforts.
Authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of up to 7,500 people living within a mile (1.6 kilometers) of a stretch of the Cape Fear River and the Little River, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the North Carolina coast. The evacuation zone included part of the city of Fayetteville, population 200,000.
John Rose owns a furniture business with stores less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the river. Rain-soaked furniture workers helped him quickly empty more than 1,000 mattresses from a warehouse in a low-lying strip mall.
"It's the first time we've ever had to move anything like this," Rose said. "If the river rises to the level they say it's going to, then this warehouse is going to be under water."
Fayetteville city officials, meanwhile, got help from the Nebraska Task Force One search and rescue team to evacuate 140 residents of an assisted-living facility to a safer location at a church.
Rainfall totals were stunning.
In Swansboro, North Carolina, nearly 34 inches of rain had fallen by Sunday afternoon, and 20 other places in North Carolina had at least 20 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Another 30 sites in North and Carolina had at least 10 inches.
"Flood waters are still raging across parts of our state," Cooper said. "If you aren't watching for them, you are risking your life."
Officials were warning residents not only to stay off the roads but also to avoid using GPS systems.
"As conditions change, GPS navigation systems are not keeping up with the road closures and are directing people onto roads that are confirmed closed and/or flooded," the state Transportation Department said on Twitter.
Still, there was some good news: Power outages in the Carolinas and Virginia were down to about 650,000 homes and businesses after reaching a high of about 910,000 as the hurricane plowed into the coast. Utilities said some could be out for weeks.
Florence weakened to a tropical depression early Sunday and was crawling west at just 8 mph (13 kph). At 5 a.m., the storm was centered about 20 miles (35 kilometers) southwest of Columbia, South Carolina. Its winds were down to 35 mph (55 kph).
In Goldsboro, North Carolina, home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, roads that frequently flood were already closed Saturday by rushing water. Dozens of electric repair trucks massed to respond to damage expected to hit central North Carolina as rainwater collected into rivers headed to the coast.
Duke Energy said heavy rains caused a slope to collapse at a coal ash landfill at a closed power station outside Wilmington late Saturday, but there was no indication contamination had drained into the nearby Cape Fear River. The company initially estimated that about 2,000 cubic yards (1,530 cubic meters) of ash were displaced at the landfill, which is enough to fill about 180 dump trucks. Sheehan said that estimate could be revised.
Near the flooded-out town of New Bern, where about 455 people had to be rescued from the swirling flood waters, water completely surrounded churches, businesses and homes. In the neighboring town of Trenton, downtown streets were turned to creeks full of brown water.
Still, spirits were high at the Trent Park Elementary School in New Bern, where 44-year-old Cathy Yolanda Wright took shelter after being rescued from her flooded home Saturday. Wright, who sings in the choir at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist, led residents at the shelter in an energetic singalong.
People clapped and shouted, "Amen!" and "Thank you, Lord."
Associated Press writers Alex Derosier in Fayetteville, North Carolina; Jonathan Drew in Wilmington, North Carolina; Allen G. Brred and Emery P. Dalesio in New Bern, North Carolina; Denise Lavoie and Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; Gary Robertson and Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina; Meg Kinnard, Russ Bynum and and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Seth Borenstein and Michael Biesecker in Washington; Lolita C. Baldor at the Pentagon; Jennifer Kay in Miami; Pete Iacobelli in Clemson, South Carolina, and Jay Reeves in Atlanta contributed to this report.


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Seen In Calgary #30: Calgary Roughnecks #PlayoffParty At The Saddledome
[twitter]The Scotiabank Saddledome has been quiet this season. With the Calgary Flames re-building, and the Calgary Hitmen knocked out early the city has been missing a spring spark.
Cue the Calgary Roughnecks who are through to the second round of the NLL Playoffs after a thrilling #PlayoffParty overtime victory over the Colorado Mammoth this weekend.
I've only ever been to 3 lacrosse games, but man do I love it.
Despite being an official winter sport of Canada, the passion for the game hasn't reached the heights of hockey, soccer, or football in this country. Which is too bad, because as a spectator sport it almost can't be beat.
Lacrosse is a little bit of basketball, a little bit of hockey, and a lot of action. The basketball feel comes in to play as their is music playing the entire game and the play is broken up into distinct sessions of offence and defense.
The hockey feel because it's in a rink, there's sticks, goalies, and a net. You're trying to score and there's a little bit of that rough stuff that Canadians seem to love in their sport.
Like basketball, there is lots of scoring, but not so much that you're constantly getting up and down. With each team scoring between 10 and 20 times in a lacrosse game there's enough action to have lots of cheering every couple of minutes.
The clock just rolls, there are no face offs, the play goes back and forth. At one point, it looked like Calgary scored, the goalie falling back into the net, but the ref waved it off, and the play just kept going. There is non-stop action in lacrosse and the fans love it.
I've never been to an arena where people eagerly get up and dance with the music during timeouts. Outside of a baseball game, or a Neil Diamond concert, I've never seen a crowd stand up and sing Sweet Caroline. At the Calgary Roughnecks game, they did. And why wouldn't they, the official hashtag for the season is #PlayoffParty.
There is another #PlayoffParty at the Saddledome this weekend as the Calgary Roughnecks host the Edmonton Rush in the first of their 2 game playoff series. You can get discounted tickets (starting at $25) by using the code: RNX047 here. They use the tag line "come for the party, stay for the game" when promoting lacrosse and it is bang on the money.
SEE ALL THAT'S BEEN SEEN IN CALGARY
calgary roughnecks lacrosse playoffs saddledome seen in calgary sports
in Seen in Calgary on May 5, 2014 May 6, 2014
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Rewatching The Lost Stallone/Pelé Nazi Soccer Epic "Victory" 35 Years Later
Stallone defeated communism in "Rocky IV," but the film in which he teamed up with Pelé and Michael Caine to beat the Nazis at soccer is forgotten. Let's fix that.
by Tom Keiser
Jun 24 2016, 3:08pm
Editor's note: Sportsflicks is an occasional VICE Sports series in which Tom Keiser watches sports movies and writes about them. Read previous installments here.
When one thinks of Sylvester Stallone and the Warsaw Pact, the all-time classic Rocky IV naturally comes to mind first. But less than five years before Rocky Balboa landed in the desolate wintry Communist stranglehold of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Sly made a World War II-themed sports movie in Hungary, that featured some of the most respected actors and soccer stars of the Western World, turning an Eastern European legend with a murky level of truth into an all out Western European and American fantasy. This is how powerful Stallone was in the 1980's: he went behind the Iron Curtain and made a world a better place through the power of sports not once, but twice.
Victory, which is known as Escape to Victory in the parts of the world where soccer is called football, is a good-but-not-great knock off of The Great Escape with one hell of a pedigree. In addition to Stallone, [Escape To] Victory stars Michael Caine, Max Von Sydow, and the most legendary soccer player of all time, Pelé. The rest of the cast is peppered with World Cup champions (such as Bobby Moore and Osvaldo Ardiles), the odd deep cut Oscar nominee, and the same people who had been playing stock Nazi characters for going on three decades when Victory was made. Even with all that star power on hand, Victory seems to have been largely forgotten in popular culture, except for possibly inspiring the title of a Father Ted episode. It's a fairly forgettable film, and the sum is less than its parts, but man, those parts are something else. It is also worth experiencing at least once, if only to watch Sylvester Freaking Stallone get owned by some of the greatest soccer stars of the 20th century.
Read More: Rewatching "Thunderstruck," Kevin Durant's Bricked Attempt At A Supernatural "Space Jam"
Sylvester Stallone is Robert Hatch, an American so war-happy that he joined the Canadian Army years before Pearl Harbor. It's a decision he probably regrets once he winds up in a German prisoner of war camp. There he butts heads with John Colby (Michael Caine), who hopes to get back to playing for West Ham United once the war is over, and spends his time organizing soccer games with his fellow detainees. Eventually, Nazi commandant/crusty old dean Karl Von Steiner (Max Von Sydow) decides to use Colby and his Sta-league for propaganda purposes. An exhibition game is set for occupied Paris between the prisoners and the best a decimated-but-still-very-good-at-soccer Nazi Germany could offer. Colby uses the offer to get better treatment for his team, and as an excuse to get some "Eastern European" prisoners of war who are in a bad way to join them.
This is as close as the movie gets to mentioning the Holocaust, and also to outwardly referencing Two Half Times In Hell, the 1961 Hungarian movie that [Escape To] Victory quasi-officially remakes. The legend of The Death Match, in which the occupied Ukrainian team FC Start defeated a team of Nazi soldiers in 1942—some of the players were killed in retaliation—has grown far beyond the facts, and the actual incident has been further muddied by the multiple iterations of the story that have been told onscreen, from a more recent (and markedly anti-Ukrainian) Russian movie to the 1974 prisoners-versus-guards classic The Longest Yard and its remakes.
In this spin on the story, Hatch tries to find a way to escape, but is thwarted more by the British officers who oversee any and all escape attempts than by the Hogan's Heroes-level Nazi security. When our hero does leave, it is on others' terms—he must contact the French resistance to secure the escape of the team at halftime of the game, and then get himself caught again. In order to get Hatch out of solitary confinement once he returns, Colby breaks the arm of his team's goalie so Hatch can get out on the field. The opponents don't take Sylvester Stallone terribly seriously as a goalkeeper, and lives down to those expectations. At halftime, the team is losing 4-1 and down an injured Pelé, and Michael Caine wants to win so badly that he ditches the meticulous escape plan just as the team is about to sneak through the stadium's drainage system. Instead, the team comes back to tie the score, at least until those stupid (literal) Nazi refs disallow the goal.
The aforementioned greatest soccer player of all time then returns to the pitch, and Pelé shakes off an arm injury—expert soccer fans will note that you do not technically need two functioning arms to play soccer—to score the game-tying golazo. Hatch then makes a stop at the very end against Baumann, the German captain—he's played by Pelé's former New York Cosmos teammate Werner Roth—leading to a tie that the Allies can count as a victory. A riot ensues, leading to the escape of the players and presumably the off-screen execution of Karl Von Steiner. It's not quite the "if I can change, and you can change" monologue from Rocky IV, but it works well enough.
John freaking Huston, the extremely devoted father and grandfather from Chinatown and one of the greatest filmmakers ever, directed Victory when he was in his mid-seventies and was already battling the emphysema that would claim him in 1987. Despite his failing health, though, Huston was in the middle of a long streak of consistently good-to-very good movies, something similar to Clint Eastwood's run of success over the last twenty years; consider that Victory was made 40 years after Huston directed The Maltese Falcon and it all seems that much more astonishing. There's an ambient old-fashionedness to Victory that goes beyond the fact that its "The Longest Yard meets The Great Escape" plot was already well-worn by 1981.
When you have to explain soccer's rules to the guy from "Over The Top." Image via YouTube
Max Von Sydow is a better actor than his role requires, but gives as good a performance as stock "good Nazi" Von Steiner as anyone could. Von Steiner is just a dude who, after a long day of committing war crimes, just wants to kick back and watch sports; as he would with Brewmeister Schmidt in 1983's Strange Brew, Von Sydow brings more dimensions to the character than are strictly necessary. Anton Diffring, an actor who we'll see more of once the definitive version of The Day The Clown Cried is finally released, plays the Nazi announcer, whose trick of artificially spicing up the crowd noises must have really inspired a young Vince McMahon. Daniel Massey—who even as a movie buff I barely knew existed, much less earned an Oscar nomination in 1968 for Star!—plays Col. Waldron, who gives the green light on the escape plan but is later relegated to a Statler and Waldorf role in the stands alongside a fellow officer.
Legendary Moroccan-French actor Amidou plays the French resistance leader who helps plan the team's escape, while Carole Laure isn't the token love interest so much as she's the token woman, period. Even by the generous standards of over-ornate prison escapes on film, Victory's escape plot has a lot of slack in it, and all that trickery in the locker room of the [Budapest pretending to be Colombes] stadium seems retrospectively ridiculous when it turns out that all the team really needed to do to escape was instigate a soccer riot. Having a soccer riot end in anything short of tragedy is the most telling sign that this movie was made in the early 1980's.
Victory is derivative even beyond its essentially unoriginal Inspired By True Events origins, and its borrowing stands out that much more because of what it chooses to steal/riff on. Bill Conti, who had already scored Rocky and was a few years away from winning an Academy Award for The Right Stuff, did a little of what he would do in the latter film, and "borrowed" heavily from Dmitri Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony (which was considered to be public domain in the West at the time) for Victory. There is also a scene in which the Hungarian extras pretending to be French sing La Marseillaise, recalling a certain little movie from the World War II era. Also, no three people would ever form a physical "V" like Stallone, Caine and Pelé do on the poster; if they did, this would have been a Cronenbergian body horror movie, not an agreeably minor John Huston soccer movie.
In the end, Victory barely escapes with a tie. Stallone, Caine, and Pelé are good in their roles, but the broader project ultimately betrays both them and director Huston. There is a good movie to be made out of this premise, which is something I can say because several have in fact already been made; some new variations on it are undoubtedly in the offing. During this summer of the Copa Centenario and the European championships, it's safe to say that there are much better ways to celebrate soccer—and the careers of those in this movie—than spending two and a half hours on Victory. Might as well just wait for the remake.
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copa centenario
elisions
european theater but the movie kind
max von sydow
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kim posted this article under NCTA Events, Outreach	on Sunday, December 1st, 2013 at 12:04 pm	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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