This indie collective have taken the pure pop brilliance 10cc's I'm Not in Love as the template for our album of the year so far

Hometown: Minneapolis.

The lineup: Ryan Olson, plus POS, Dessa, Michael Lewis, and various members of, among others, Bon Iver, Megafaun and Solid Gold.

The background: Gayngs are an indie supergroup, led by producer Ryan Olson, and their debut album Relayted features as many as 25 musicians – members of a variety of Minneapolis bands including Solid Gold, Megafaun, Lookbook, Leisure Birds, Rhymesayers (rapper POS), the Rosebuds and, most famously, Bon Iver – Mike Noyce appears here on guitar and vocals, while Justin Vernon lends his sweet falsetto to a couple of tracks.

Only this is far, far away from the desolate, cold, wintry northwoods cabin where Vernon recorded the acclaimed lonesome singer-songwriter acoustica of For Emma, Forever Ago. Gayngs are a studio collective, a large one at that, and Relayted is the result of much studio processing. It began simply enough, as a collaboration between Solid Gold's Zach Coulter and Adam Hurlburt and producer Ryan Olson in the latter's Minneapolis bedroom. One move to a Wisconsin studio, April Base, and those two-dozen-plus guest musicians later, Relayted had changed shape considerably and grown into something rather bigger and more epic.

It was a radical departure for all concerned – all comfort zones were instantly demolished. "We just wanted to start playing some soft-rock music," explains Olson. "I'd been listening to a shitload of 10cc and I was just like, yeah, I want to do something like this." According to the press release, what he wanted to create was "a collection of drugged-up keyboards and slick production almost exclusively inspired by 10cc's I'm Not in Love". On the Gayngs MySpace, under "Sounds Like", it simply says: "10cc's I'm Not in Love." And there on Relayted, as final confirmation of their plan, three tracks in, is a cover version of Cry, the 1985 single by Godley & Creme, who were the "brainiac" half of forward-looking Manchester four-piece 10cc – the Lennon, if you like, to Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart's McCartney.

Now, 10cc fans out there will know that it was, in fact, Gouldman and Stewart, not Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who wrote I'm Not in Love, the six-minute No 1 hit that, in June 1975, set new standards for pop production and made the young Trevor Horn, to name but one, prick up his ears, thereby altering the course of hi-tech 80s pop. But that's just us being picky. The point is, Gayngs, like a lot of contemporary acts – among them Daft Punk, Air, Monarchy and the late J Dilla – are finally cottoning on to the brilliance of 10cc, and we couldn't be more delighted.

10cc became a byword for studio invention, and that's what Gayngs have picked up on. You can hear it in the treated, layered vocals (the billowing, ethereal harmonies on I'm Not in Love were created by a painstaking process of multitracking and overdubbing, so that they ended up with a lavish 256-voice "virtual choir") and the general attention to detail, with sounds and instruments ricocheting around the mix. Every one of the 11 tracks has been recorded at 69 beats-per-minute. We're not sure whether 10cc's epochal single moved at the same speed or if this is a Gayngs tribute to same, but the songs on Relayted strike a similar note of sepulchral sorrow.

The slow, stately pace and lush sonics also point towards, of all things, modern hip-hop and R&B; as influences on Gayngs, as well as 70s symphonic soul (which, of course, hip-hoppers and R&B; producers have been sampling for years). Of all the groups involved in Gayngs, it is Solid Gold's etiolated white-boy soul that you can hear most clearly, but on Relayted the musicians take it further – way further, to the point where some of the tracks sound as much like Barry White or Isaac Hayes-sampling, low-riding G-Funk as anything. There's a track called Ride, for instance, that makes us think of Dr Dre and, yes, Godley & Creme slumped over the mixing desk over at Strawberry Studios in Stockport (which closed years ago, but you know what we mean). We won't spoil it by saying any more, suffice to say that it's just one of many utterly exquisite dirges on Relayted, our album of the year so far.

The buzz: "It has a smoking-in-a-jazz-club feel to it that's almost too smooth, unexpected from a track that features Justin Vernon on vocal duty."

The truth: Do we wanna be in their Gayng? Yes, we really do.

Most likely to: Rule 2010.

Least likely to: Bring about the rehabilitation of Jonathan King (he "discovered" 10cc).

What to buy: The album Relayted is released by Jagjaguwar on 17 May.

File next to: 10cc, Flaming Lips, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ginuwine.

Links: myspace.com/gayngs

Tomorrow's new band: Lonely Galaxy.

Photo courtesy of Harmony & Me

If you're already having SXSW withdrawal, get a fix from Harmony and Me, a prime cut of Austin lo-fi. Crafted under the auspices of the Sundance Institute's Annenberg Film Fellowship Program, the break-up film is visually sparse (although props to the location scout for the room with the cereal-box collection), but full of life where it matters. To wit: the comedy is dry, the performers are stone-faced and the increasingly awkward relationships are hilarious. It's also honest about surviving a breakup in a way few films are: everyone's full of it (especially yourself), so all you can do is hear them out, distract yourself with something else, and move on. That is, if you can survive your non-support team (especially yourself). Harmony and Me plays at Laemmle's Sunset this Friday and Saturday, and if you're hard up for cash, at USC on Sunday for free. All screenings feature writer/director/actor Bob Byington, but on Saturday he's paired with Second City comedienne Suzy Nakamura.

Should you prefer disharmony, this Friday offers a nuclear holocaust of thrills! The Cinefamily closes out its Post-Apocalypse Now series with a terrifying triple of Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth, Charlton Heston in The Omega Man and Kelli Maroney in Night of the Comet. Bring your own scenery; theirs will be chewed to bits. The Egyptian hits the road with the Mad Max trilogy, and follows up on Sunday with Logan's Run, the latter featuring the novel's co-writers William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnston, and a chance to win the Logan's Run sequel comic. For a more light-hearted take on the end of the world, the New Bev has a pairing of Repo Man (not Men - sorry Jude) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Finally, where would Armageddon be without Jesus H. Christ? In advance of Easter, the Old Town Music Hall has Cecil B. DeMille's silent epic The King of Kings. Just as well they play it now - popcorn makes for a terrible Last Supper. I don't even know if it's kosher.

Full list appears below - see you at the movies!

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

All Week
Chloe (2009) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Crazy Heart (2009) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
The Eclipse (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
The Ghost Writer (2010) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Greenberg (2010) (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
The Harimaya Bridge (2009) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Harmony and Me (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Kevorkian (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Shutter Island (2010) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Smash His Camera (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Sweetgrass (2009) (Nuart Theatre)
The Two Escobars (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Vincere (2009) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
West of Pluto (2008) (Downtown Independent)

Thursday 3/25
Big River Man (2009) / Running Stumbled (2006) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (What's Up, Docs?)
The Bounty Hunter (2010) (Arclight Hollywood) (21+ screening)
Chihwaseon (Fly Back to History) (2002) (free event) (Korean Cultural Center)
Green Zone (2010) (Arclight Sherman Oaks) (21+ screening)
Kansas City Confidential (1952) / 99 River Street (1953) (New Beverly Cinema)
The Maltese Falcon (1941) (w/ Hugh Hefner) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Here's Looking at You, Humphrey Bogart)
The Pirate (1948) / Brigadoon (1954) (w/ Gene Kelly's widow, Patricia Kelly) (Aero Theatre) (Singin' in the Frame: A Gene Kelly Retrospective)
The Resurrected (1992) / Dark Star (1974) (Egyptian Theatre) (Dan O'Bannon Tribute)

Friday 3/26
An American in Paris (1951) / The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) (Aero Theatre) (Singin' in the Frame: A Gene Kelly Retrospective)
Grand Illusion (1937) / The Elusive Corporal (1962) (LACMA) (The Films of Jean Renoir)
Harmony and Me (2009) (w/ filmmaker Bob Byington at 7:45pm show) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
King of Kings (1927) (Old Town Music Hall)
The Last Man on Earth (1964) / Night of the Comet (1984) / The Omega Man (1971) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Post-Apocalypse Now!)
Mad Max (1979) / Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) / Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome (1985) (Egyptian Theatre)
Pulp Fiction (1994) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
Reservoir Dogs (1992) (midnight show) (New Beverly Cinema)
Sweetgrass (2009) (w/ filmmaker Lucien Castaing-Taylor at 5:30pm and 7:30 pm shows) (Nuart Theatre)
West of Pluto (2008) (w/ directors at 8:20pm show) (Downtown Independent)
Z (1969) / The Battle of Algiers (1966) (New Beverly Cinema)

Saturday 3/27
9 Icons in 90 Minutes (Egyptian Theatre)
168 Film Festival (Alex Theatre)
Ajami (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Casablanca (1942) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
Casablanca (1942) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Here's Looking at You, Humphrey Bogart)
Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of the Twilight Zone's Magic Man (2009) (w/ authors Ray Bradbury, George Clayton Johnson, William F. Nolan, John Tomerlin, Richard Matheson, editor and producer Sunni Brock and director Jason Brock) (Egyptian Theatre)
La Chienne (1931) / La Marseillaise (1938) (LACMA) (The Films of Jean Renoir)
Harmony and Me (2009) (w/ filmmaker Bob Byington at 7:45pm show) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
HollyShorts Film Festival Showcase (Echo Park Film Center)
The Intruder (1962) / Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) (Egyptian Theatre)
King of Kings (1927) (Old Town Music Hall)
The Lost Boys (1987) (Regency Academy) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Sins O' The Flesh Midnight Show) (Nuart Theatre)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Midnight Insanity Midnight Show) (Warner Grand Theatre)
Rockula (1990) (w/ Dean Cameron) (New Beverly Cinema) (New Beverly Midnights)
The Room (2003) (midnight show) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
The Round-Up (1965) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Masters of the Long Take)
Sexy Sci-Fi feat. Galaxina (1980) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (HFS: Stoopid Futures)
The Shining (1980) (Art Theatre of Long Beach) (Mondo Fridays)
Singin' in the Rain (1952) / Summer Stock (1950) (w/ Gene Kelly's widow, Patricia Kelly) (Aero Theatre) (Singin' in the Frame: A Gene Kelly Retrospective)
West of Pluto (2008) (w/ directors at 8:20pm show) (Downtown Independent)
The White Ribbon (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Z (1969) / The Battle of Algiers (1966) (New Beverly Cinema)

Sunday 3/28
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) / Repo Man (1984) (New Beverly Cinema)
Ajami (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Casablanca (1942) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
To Have and Have Not (1945) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Here's Looking at You, Humphrey Bogart)
King of Kings (1927) (Old Town Music Hall)
Logan's Run (1976) (w/ writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson) (Egyptian Theatre)
Marty (1955) (The Bay Theatre)
On the Town (1949) / Anchors Aweigh (1945) (w/ Gene Kelly's widow, Patricia Kelly) (Aero Theatre) (Singin' in the Frame: A Gene Kelly Retrospective)
The White Ribbon (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Yvonne Rainer Retrospective (Part 7 of 8) (w/ Yvonne Rainer) (Los Angeles Filmforum) (Egyptian Theatre)

That's all for this week. I'll be up in San Francisco for a couple weeks, so be sure and let me know all I missed!

Compiled, as always, by the amazing and diligent Edward Yerke-Robins (and family!)

So I am sure you have seen this around the place in the last few weeks... the very special Megan Morton has just penned her first book, published by Penguin and out this month! HOMELOVE is truly the most divine publication, full of all the interiors eye candy you can possibly feast your eyes on, and of course written in MM's distinctive, friendly and very conversational style. Homelove truly reads in the most intimate and magical way - Megan's voice is more like a casual whisper from a close friend than a structured styling sermon!

To co-incide with the book launch, Megan has also just started her very own Homelove blog - somewhere to post top-up information, to supplement the book, to begin a dialogue with eager readers... and above all, to share. Megan says - "There are just way too many good things out there – new colours, new ways to do things, new solutions to old problems – and it seems unfair not to share them. So if Homelove the book has all the seriously chunky information in it – the real how to’s and must-know’s, then Homelove the blog is a place where new found ideas can be shared." I can only say how perfectly this statement sums up Megan's incredibly generous spirit... and dear readers, there is more generosity to come....

In the spirit of sharing, Megan will host a very special live chat Q&A on her blog next week! Pop a little note in your diary for next Tuesday the 30th, 10.00am - 11.00am... when Megan will be online to answer all your decorating questions! What a brilliant chance to tap into the mind of one of Australia's best known stylists! From paint colours to furniture fossicking to perfect party styling... MM would love to share her expertise with you! Dream up your most challenging deco questions and I hope to see you over there on Tuesday!

AND just in case you weren't quite excited enough about all the Megan Morton love in the room.... In celebration of her book and blog launch, MM has pulled together the most perfect Homelove prize pool giveaway, exclusively for 10 lucky Design Files readers!

The Homelove prize pool includes a signed copy of the book, plus a delicious collection of Megan's favourite things... oooh la la. See the full list below!

Here is Megan's little love note to you, outlining all the divine goodies in this super generous giveaway! Ooooh la la. Be still my beating heart! -

"As its my first ever book, I'd like to celebrate with a few of my own favourite things. I'd love to give 10 Design Filers a signed copy of HOMELOVE, and a few of my All Time Favourite Things. Think hand-made screen art, think crusty bread, think dinky, think the perfect grey, think perfectly polished short nails, ...."

* limited edition Castle and Things for homelove screen printed love heart on paper - $120.

"It doesn't get more perfect than Rachel Castles' embroideries and screenprints. She has hand screened a super weeny but super cute limited edition of ten heart prints. Heaven in a heart. Adored."

* Baker Friday for HOMELOVE bread - priceless.

"Fresh from Baker Friday, these sourdough loaves - specially designed for HOMELOVE - are the first things out of this stunning new Bondi Junction bakeries oven doors. We will be literally taking them from the oven to the postbox to express to the winners! Incredible. You won't believe it, it's artisan baking at its best".

* Miss Frou Frou nail polish

"Who doesnt need an injection of red every now and then? Nobody does a better polish than Miss Frou Frou and we all know it. One coat of this RED HOT is all you will need. Red hot works well with short, squared long nail beds!".

*Bauwerk Paint

"I think it's a stunning colour. You will too. Enjoy this pot of perfect grey from Bauwerk. Its filled with THE greenest paint in the world. Seriously"

* Vintage spoon from 'The Propery'

"I have a props house called 'The Propery' where all lovely styling bits live to serve other stylists. We believe in using the good, the funny, the delicate everyday, not just special occasions, so please stir your coffee with one of our lovely funny little vintage spoons".

*HOMEPAINT colours

"Designer Sara Silm and I have made some seriously foolproof colour palettes and we'd love to share them with you. There are five palettes and we know you will love them, you can not not - they are simply beautiful"

*Mushroom stamp from Kikki K - $19.95

"A little something to leave out on your stationery shelf. This dinky little wooden mushroom from Kikki K comes with a stamp pad, and is all round cuteness even when its not in action."

*Chic canvas travel bag from Murchison-Hume

"Stylist love bags and storage and canvas, which is why these Murchison-Hume ones in calico are ideal for all sorts of things ...sentimental trinkets, special shoes, kid gloves, lego, secrets, love letters, cashmere scarves that risk nips... you can't ever have enough. I have Murchison-Hume monogram mine but we will leave the winners blank and you can title it any way you like!"

Oh Megan. Such Love.

Ok readers you know the drill! Comment here before the end of the day to be in the running for 1 of 10 Homelove favourite things packs from Megan Morton! (if you are an email subscriber, please don't reply to this email - all comments must be left at www.thedesignfiles.net to be in the running!)

Omigod. Aren't you excited for that Baker Friday loaf with the Homelove heart, express-posted to your door anywhere Australia-wide?! Bonkers brilliant.

Hut Hut

Dear Ion Audio Slides 2 PC 35mm Slide and Film Converter,

When I first met my wife, it was at a college football game. I was with my friends, she was with hers, and we sat near each other completely by chance. Let me explain the moment for you. We were wrapped in our jackets, talking about our classes and spiking our drinks from a flask, when suddenly, there was a fumble. The crowd went crazy as one of our linemen grabbed the ball and ran eighty yards for the game winning touchdown. I was so excited that I couldn’t control myself, and I leaned over and kissed her. I admit it, I would have kissed anyone, even that fat guy who painted his chest in the school colors. It was just that kind of play! But, unfortunately for me, at that exact moment, she was saying something. And even worse, her friend took a picture! She made that picture into a slide and, almost every day since then, the woman who is now my wife looks at that slide and says “Darling, do you remember those words I said at that football game? The ones that made you fall in love with me”

And almost every day, I come up with a new way to lie to that woman. Because I never heard them in the first place.

So when I found you, Ion Audio Slides 2 PC 35mm Slide and Film Converter, I thought my life was saved. The box said that you were a high-res five megapixel quality scanner with a four glass optic element. And, now that I’ve tried you for myself I know that you can turn slides and negatives into digital images. You work great, and you’re small and quick. But, Ion Audio Slides 2 PC 35mm Slide and Film Converter, where do you get off being made by an audio company?

When I saw the word “audio”, I figured this was finally the answer to my problem. Finally I’d be able to hear those words she was saying in the picture! No more answering with “Oh, I can’t say it like you said it, honey.” No more “There was so much passion that when I think of it the words just get stuck in my heart.” No more “Oh, sure, but before I tell you what you said, I want to paint the entire house from top to bottom because I love you so much and it can’t wait for one second longer.” You, Ion Audio Slides 2 PC 35mm Slide and Film Converter, were supposed to be my escape from all that. And all your staff can say to me is “film doesn’t capture sound and never has”? What kind of an answer is that? I needed you!

But because you failed me, Ion Audio Slides 2 PC 35mm Slide and Film Converter, I’ll be going home tonight, and tomorrow night, and every night for the rest of my life, to find yet another way to convince the woman I love that she always mattered more to me than a really good football game. Do you know how impossible that is? I guess people who wanted to convert slides and film to enjoy cherished family memories might find you exactly what they need but as far as I’m concerned, Ion Audio Slides 2 PC 35mm Slide and Film Converter, man, thanks for nothing.

Sincerely,
Un-Audible In Kentucky

Warranty: 90 Day Ion Audio

Authorized for SquareTrade Extended Warranty

Features:

• SLIDES 2 PC is a high-resolution, five-mega pixel scanner with a high-quality four-glass optic element that ensures you capture all of the color and detail in each one of your slides or negatives
• Fixed-focus range, automatic exposure and color balance guarantee that your memories are captured optimally with accurate color conversion and perfect imaging
• Incredibly fast, one-touch scanning and a single-cable connection make SLIDES 2 PC perfect for updating your photo collection
• Transfer 35mm negatives and slides to your computer
• High-resolution 5MP, 2592×1680 scanner
• Fast, one-touch scanning takes just one to two seconds
• Single-cable, high-speed USB 2.0 computer connection
• Portable design with ultra-small footprint
• Includes easy image-transfer and editing software
• High-quality f=6.0, four-glass optic element
• Fixed-focus range, automatic exposure and color balance
• Blue light indicates power when connected to computer

System Requirements:

• Windows XP (32-bit) or Vista (32-bit)
• Pentium III 450 processor or equivalent (PIII 800 recommended)
• 128 MB RAM (256MB recommended)
• 50 MB available hard disk space (100MB recommended)
• USB 2.0 port

In the box:

• Slides to PC Scanner
• Slide Tray
• Negative Tray
• Optics Cleaning Tool
• Software CD
• Quick Start Guide
• User Manual

Nintendo announced the Nintendo 3DS late last night. It's going to offer 3D gaming without the need for 3D glasses. What do you all make of Nintendo's next handheld?

Our PAX East plans are up, DtoidAustralia checked out the Mana Bar in Australia, The Witcher 2 was announced, Chuck E. Cheese is still in business, the 250 GB 360 HDD will be a standalone and more happened on 03/23/10.

Destructoid Originals:
Podtoid 143: anal tax bracket
Nintendo DSi XL arrives with smallest press release ever
Doom II Xbox LIVE Arcade 'still in the cards'
How to survive the motion control apocalypse
Destructoid's communty meetup plans for PAX East!
The Mana Bar: Australia's first gaming destination
Reselling games and giving back with SwitchGames
Game SERIES Debate to the Death! Dragon Quest series

Community:
Community blogs of 03/23/10
Forum of the day: The official PAX East thread

News:
Here are some free Bing shirts for your 360 Avatar!
Starbreeze confirms cancellation of a title
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings officially announced
Fable III will be episodic
Sony exec 'confirms' LittleBigPlanet 2 with Move support
Badass robots confirmed for Portal 2
Chuck E. Cheese getting a glorified minigame collection
Nintendo announces the 3DS, portable gaming in 3D
No, this Spy Hunter movie won't die
Serious Sam HD on PC gets Deathmatch, Steam achievements
Dashboard ad confirms standalone 250 GB 360 HDD
Analyst: 3DS announcement prior to DSi XL release 'unfortunate'
Games on Demand: A 1000 Gamescore points for $19.99
Rocksteady thinks a Bane game 'could be crazy'
Standalone DJ Hero turntables available at NA retailers
BioWare begins counting down to something or other
Pre-order Mount & Blade: Warband for instant beta access
Three more fighters announced for EA MMA
Learn about SSFIV's Hakan from head-to-toe

Offbeat:
Taking Pokewalker cheating to the next level with K'Nex
Mega64: Indie Man, defender of indie games
Metal Gear Peace Walker gets Mountain Dew Peace Walker

Media:
A real life analysis of Mass Effect 2's science
The Red Star hits PSN
Dead to Rights: Retribution should just be about the dog
This new Dementium II trailer is yucky

Here is a list of upcoming content scheduled for the Xbox LIVE Marketplace* Please see the blog post I’ll make for each of these for regional availability.

 

Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week:

March 29: Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram, 800 Points

April 5: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, 400 points each 

Xbox LIVE Games on Demand:

March 23: Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth
March 23: Operation Darkness (Japan)

March 23: SEGA Superstars Tennis

March 30: Record of Agarest War: Reappearance (Japan)

 

Xbox LIVE Arcade:

The Block Party promotion wraps up this week with:

March 24: Game Room, Free to download. Individual games will cost 240 to 400 points

March 31: Mega Man 10, 800 points

Xbox Avatar Marketplace:

These are just a few of the collections scheduled for the Xbox LIVE Avatar Marketplace.

March 23: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2  
March 25: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

April 1: Army of Two: 40th Day

April 1: Avatar Marketplace Spring Collection

Also, the following Xbox 360 Game Add-Ons are scheduled to be available:

 

March 30:Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package, 1200 Points

 

Also, on April 1 from 12:00 pm ET/9am PT through April 5 at 12:00 pm ET/9am PT, Xbox LIVE Silver members can enjoy features that are reserved exclusively for Xbox LIVE Gold members – including Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and premier multiplayer features. Sign up for a free Xbox LIVE account today and be prepared to play.

SALE: Between April 1st and April 7th, there will be Ten Arcade Games on sale (like Super Street Fighter II HD, South Park LET'S GO TOWER DEFENSE PLAY and Defense Grid: The Awakening) I’ll post the complete list of titles and sale prices as soon as get my hands on it.

 
You may want to follow my Twitter account if you want to be reminded when many of the above items become available.

 

*Current schedule. Subject to change. All content may not be available in all Xbox LIVE regions.

Filed under: Beauty, Celebrity, News, Skin & Body, Celebrity Beauty, Stylish Living, Celebrity Style

Cindy Crawford is not afraid of aging.

"I feel like all those things I did over the years are paying off now," she tells StyleList.

"I never smoked, I didn't bake in the sun and I started taking care of my skin at an early age. I'm pretty happy with the way my face looks." (And we don't blame her.)

Regular facials with Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh are part of her skincare routine, and Crawford explains that "microdermabrasion works for me -- it makes my skin glow."

"I worked with Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh to create Meaningful Beauty line of anti-aging products and I've been using them for 14 years."

Even with all that, Crawford admits, "I'm 44, I don't know what's going to work for me in the future."

"I already see that when I lose a little weight, my face looks thin, drawn and tired," proving that the old adage about choosing either your derriere or your face to look good as you age, but hardly ever both.

She claimed her famously shapely legs don't look as good as they used to (we disagree) without lots of work, including regular hiking and working out on a Power Plate, which "gives you that extra core workout."

Crawford, wearing a metallic Roberto Cavalli minidress, a diamond studded Omega watch and carrying a Lauren Merkin bag, was holding court at DIFFA's Dining by Design gala in New York City, where she sponsored a table that was decked out in her wares from JCPenney, which she hopes to expand.

"There's still many more categories we can do with home," she says. "I love doing home [design] - I really enjoy it." And she likes decorating her own homes with products from the line. "I get it once it's available. I just ordered this bowl and the glasses with the swirl for our beach house. "

One thing Crawford can hardly get her hands on is her One Kiss by Cindy Crawford jewelry, which hits stores for Mother's Day, but someone else helped themselves to a few pieces a little early.

At the DIFFA dinner, each place setting was decorated with a little box containing a piece from the jewelry collection. Before dinner even began, three of the 18 boxes were pilfered.

That's some hot product!

Is there something in the air? Check out another style icon set to design home decor, as well.

Cindy Crawford on Aging, Home Design and Those Great Legs originally appeared on StyleList on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Debt woes and a sprawlingly diverse programme haven't stopped this year's Dubai art fair from showing some exhilarating art – just don't expect any nudity

Much more exciting than the recent completion of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (renamed at the last minute as a shout-out to Dubai's creditors in Abu Dhabi) was the relatively uncelebrated opening of the first sections of Dubai's metro system. The idea of the "public" has never been prominent in Dubai, but that may be starting to change. The city's incredibly diverse ethnicities, used to encountering one another only in strictly hierarchical service situations, are now being squeezed together in rude proximity for the first time. The only nationality I did not see on the crowded train, as we glided along elevated tracks beside Sheikh Zayed Road, were Emiratis.
 
I start with the metro because it's an unsung triumph for a city that you'd be forgiven for thinking – if you read the Daily Mail – or indeed certain commentators in this venerable publication – is slipping into the Persian Gulf like something out of Roland Emmerich's 2012. Thanks to bailouts from its big brother in Abu Dhabi, it isn't. And its confidence – or at least defiance – is returning as a result. Even its art fair (who buys art in this economic climate?) enjoyed a surprisingly successful fourth edition in the Disney-like luxury of the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel last weekend.
 
Art Dubai is not like western art fairs: it doesn't have the quality that connoisseurs are accustomed to at Basel or London's Frieze. No works featuring nudity or obvious political content are allowed (of which more later); there is an exclusive "women's day" for the sheikh's wives to roam around and add to their collections; and it has more accompanying exhibitions, installations, talks, tours, prizes and passion than one person could possibly absorb. In short, it feels like Dubai is trying to prove something here. Perhaps that it does indeed possess the culture that it is derided for lacking?
 
Showcasing 72 galleries, the art is from 31 countries – mostly from what Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai's leader, calls the central world: the Middle East and Asia, of which Dubai still wants to be capital.
 
So someone like Javier Peres, the hip LA and Berlin gallerist who's right at home at a fair such as Art Basel Miami Beach, felt like a fish out of water the first time he participated in Art Dubai. "I had to look up where the United Arab Emirates was on Google before coming here," he said. "I admit my stupidity." By the second day, though, he had already made more money than he did at the recent Armory Show in New York, mostly by selling a few Dan Colen paintings. As for the rest of the works on show, mostly from the Middle East, Peres said: "I don't know how to look at it. If I respond to it instinctively, with my gut, fine. But I don't understand it."
 
That's true of a lot of art in galleries such as ATHR from Jeddah or even the Middle East-dominated New York gallery Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller (which reported such rapid sales that "we haven't even had time to invoice"). But, amid the newness of the fair, there are moments of familiarity. A squat toilet by Iranian artist Behdad Lahooti is an obvious homage to Duchamp's urinal, except Lahooti has charged his with political meaning by covering it with conjugations of the verb "to be free" in Farsi. Tehran's Aaran gallery sold the piece on the first day for $4,700, to French collectors.
 
Over at the Third Line gallery, Dubai's local powerhouse, a diptych of black holograms by Babak Golkar create the illusion of a circuit around the Ka'aba; the piece is called From God to Malevich. At Sfeir-Semler gallery, which has branches in Hamburg and Beirut, Etel Adnan's stunning, Andreas Gursky-style photographs of the Golan Heights are loaded with anger and cold-eyed beauty.
 
As a western visitor to the fair, then, it's hard to put aside familiar frames of reference. But the lesson of Art Dubai might be that such regional groupings and divisions are increasingly irrelevant, anyway. Artists everywhere share similar influences, and work in multiple locations. We all dip in the same pool.
 
This might also explain why Art Dubai has managed to survive the fact that some of the several heavy-hitting galleries that attended last year, such as Haunch of Venison and New York's L&M;, chose not to return this time around: the collector base is sufficiently broad to absorb local difficulties. "We don't fear the crisis," says gallerist Ulrich Semler. "It's not important for us, because we sell to England, the US, Turkey, Saudia Arabia, Lebanon. We don't have any local collectors." However, plenty of new faces graced the fair for the first time this year – sheikhs, ultra-wealthy collectors from the Middle East and Ukraine, and the US mega-collectors Don and Mera Rubell.
 
Still, the variation in quality here is massive – excitingly so. Hunar, which was Dubai's first fine art gallery, opening in 1998, displayed, among lyrical paintings of horses and mysterious dishdasha'd figures, a bronze bust of Sheikh Maktoum by British sculptor Carolyn Morton. It was commissioned, according to the gallerist, as a tribute. Only if appropriated by an artist such as Jeff Koons – it seems like the kind of kitsch/sincere object he'd love – would it accrue the level of conceptual value expected at most art fairs. In the meantime, it's a healthy challenge to have to swallow art that is made with no other purpose than pure glorification.
 
Another local gallery, Isabelle Van Den Eynde, showed a big, sloppy, jovial painting by young Iranian artist Rokni Haerizadeh, of a chaotic picnic in the middle of a busy roundabout. I assumed – or wished – that this thrilling scene, reminiscent in spirit of Manet's Music in the Tuileries Gardens (1862) or Jean Dubuffet's The Busy Life (1953), was in Dubai. Here is the vibrant public life, the cross-contamination, that the city has been allergic to. But it actually depicts Tehran, not Dubai, on the 13th day of the Persian new year, when everyone eats together, outdoors.
 
The gallery was also showing work by Haerizadeh's brother, Ramin. Or at least it did, until Dubai's state censors – the same guys who diligently black out nipples from issues of the Sun destined for British tourists – removed it from the fair. They also slapped a big white sticker over the hundreds of issues of the art fair's daily newspaper that featured Ramin's work.
 
I took a break from the fair to visit the Haerizadeh brothers in their 42nd-floor penthouse at Dubai Marina, overlooking the artificial archipelago that is the Palm Jumeirah. The duo arrived in Dubai last year, shortly after appearing in Charles Saatchi's exhibition Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East. The provocative nature of that show earned them a visibility they'd never had before in Tehran – including threats that were convincing enough to make them leave immediately for Dubai.
 
"We came here as exiles," Ramin says. "And now we have a problem with censorship here as well." The work in question was a political collage in which the Shah's wife, Farah Pahlavi, pays a benevolent visit to a classroom. Instead of school children, though, Ramin had inserted multiple images of himself, with his massive beard, wearing a chador and gleefully munching on pieces of paper with the empress's image on it.
 
Several gallerists privately warned journalists against overestimating the importance of censorship in Dubai. But the significant problem of the Haerizadehs' situation is that Dubai, potentially a beacon of relative freedom and opportunity for the Middle East and Asia, has now become unstable for them. If Rokni's brilliant new series of paintings, depicting the torture currently going on in Iran's prisons, were discovered in his studio, he'd have to go into exile again – this time to London. "We are thinking of becoming fugitives," he half-jokes.
 
In March 2008, a year after Art Dubai began, the newly-formed Dubai Cultural and Arts Authority announced plans for a permanent cultural infrastructure for the emirate. Khor Dubai was to be a 22km tract of culture, boasting 14 theatres, 10 museums (including a museum of Middle Eastern modern art), 11 galleries, nine libraries, seven "cultural icons", seven arts and cultural institutes, and an opera house. All of this is now in deep freeze.
 
That's part of the reason why Abdul Raheem Sharif turned his modest old house (they do exist in Dubai) into The Flying House, a spontaneous, overflowing mini-museum for local artists to display and preserve their art in the absence of a proper institution to do it for them. Local artist Hassan Sharifi's works dominate: he obsessively accumulates Arte Povera-type junk and stores it on shelves and in glass cases. It will be a shame when this place, and the delightfully unpretentious Dubai Museum in the old town, which features historical dioramas and relics, are superseded by a starchitect mega-museum.
 
What Dubai is left with, in the meantime, is actually much better: a burgeoning grassroots cultural scene in the industrial Al Quoz district, which will soon be accessible from the fair by metro (admittedly with a couple of taxi transfers). Young galleries such as the Third Line, Carbon 12, Traffic and Ayyam are all sticking out the crisis here. "Dubai has always been the little guy," says Hetal Pawani, director of Jamjar, a gallery studio space and sometime yoga venue. Pawani is one of the city's apparently limitless supply of ambitious, self-confident young women who are basically running the art scene here. "We've always been bottom up," she says, "and then the policy would emerge later. There's a clear distinction between Dubai and Sharjah, with its biennial and art museum, and Abu Dhabi, which has its big plans." (These call for a cultural island featuring franchises of the Guggenheim and the Louvre.) "In Dubai," says Pawani, "we have to do things ourselves."

Hey there, music fans! Thanks for joining us for Free Music Monday this week, where we offer you 10 free downloads for your eclectic listening pleasure. If you haven’t been with us before, we’re collating free and legal tracks in honor of the #musicmonday tradition on Twitter.

Read on, right-click, and enjoy yourself some free tunes. And if you’d like to appear in a future edition of Free Music Monday, please check out the submission guidelines below.

Attention artists/labels: there are new submission guidelines for Free Music Monday. Please pick (at least) one track you’re willing to give away to Mashable readers as a free download and either a) Include it as an attachment in your e-mail to barb+FMM AT mashable DOT com (25 MB file size limit, please) or b) Include a link to a location where we can download the song (if you want to use “in exchange for e-mail” or other specific widgets to offer the track to Mashable readers that’s totally fine).

If you want to also point us to more of your work online where we can stream and/or download it, please feel free — but you must complete either a or b to be considered for Free Music Monday. Due to overwhelming submission volume we are sadly unable to include each and every submission or even reply to every inquiry. If we haven’t posted your track yet, you are welcome to submit another new track at a reasonable and totally not pushy time interval. If we’ve already posted a track from your band or artist, we are unlikely to double up and post something else from you for some time — as much as we love all of you! This makes FMM more diverse and inclusive of new music.

And as always, thanks for tuning in to Free Music Monday!

1. [CHILLOUT] Atomic Skunk: “Forest for the Trees” — Marin County, CA, is home to chillout artist Atomic Skunk, who offers Mashable readers a free download of “Forest for the Trees” in exchange for a mailing list signup; use the widget below to snag the MP3. Check out more from this “organic electronic ambient” artist including lots of free streaming available on his website.

2. [ROCK] Fear Zero: “No Way to Die” — Vancouver-based rockers Fear Zero are currently charting on Canada’s Active Rock for the following single you can download for free from the widget below. Find out more about the band on their website.

No Way To Die by Fear Zero

3. [ELECTROPOP] Neon Indian: “Sleep Paralysist” — Free singles label Green Label Sound offers the first release of 2010 from (formerly) Texas (now Brooklyn) synth-pop outfit Neon Indian. Download the track from the widget below.

4. [SOUL] OTiS: “Trying to Believe” — Bringing together flavors of soul, dub, rock and jam grooves, Brooklyn’s OTiS just released their self-titled debut full-length album last week. Get yourself a free copy of the track “Trying to Believe” from the widget below, pick up the full album on iTunes, Amazon or Emusic, and stream it from their Bandcamp site.

Trying to Believe by OTiS

5. [ART ROCK DISCO] Wave Machines: “Keep the Lights On” — Hailing from Liverpool, this alternative rock quartet also embraces disco flavors and art rock sensibilities. They’re offering a free download of “Keep the Lights On” for a simple click; in exchange for a mailing list signup you can snag more downloadable goodies.

6. [INDIE FOLK] The Marble Tea: “I’m Batman” — Get a free dose of whimsical indie folk pop by right-clicking for the “I’m Batman” track. There’s lots more if you like what you hear; grab a free EP on Facebook or check out a 50+ collection of free songs released as free downloads over several years.

7. [REGGAE] Kinyama Sounds feat. Shan Malaika: “Backstabber” — Record label Kinyama Sounds out of Geneva, Switzerland, just dropped its first compilation, Reggae Dishes, from which they offer Mashable readers this track (right-click to snag it). Get the rest of the album and find out more about the label on their home page.

8. [HARD ROCK] Decortica: “Monster in a Pretty Dress” — Make use of the widget below for a free download from this alternative rock trio from Auckland, New Zealand. Check out more about the band on their website and on Facebook.

Monster in a Pretty Dress by Decortica

9. [ELECTRO] Sunsets and Hearts: Despair & Desperation EP — The widget below nets you five full free songs from Sunset and Hearts’ Despair & Desperation EP, “recorded and mixed in Corpus Christi, TX, right by the beautiful white sand and warm waters of the Gulf Coast.” Ethereal vocals and dreamy electro await you.

Sunsets in Savannah by Sunsets and Hearts

10. [ROCK] Megaphone: “My Favorite New Disaster” — Right-click for some solid driving rock from this four-piece from Orlando, Florida, described as “if the Foo Fighters beat up Butch Walker and Lit while listening to your favorite band.” Find out more about Megaphone on their home page, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Once again, big thanks to all who tuned in to Free Music Monday! If you find something you like in this feature, please feel free to share it with your music-loving friends. You can always check out the latest edition of this feature, plus all the past editions, on the Free Music Monday tag page, so be sure to tune in each week. We’ve also included the list of past Free Music Mondays at the end of this post in case you want to check out the back catalog.

Big thanks to everyone who has submitted tracks. If you sent us something and we haven’t included it yet, stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. If you missed the new guidelines for how to submit to FMM, please find them at the beginning of this post. Thanks again everyone!

Free Music Monday Back Catalog

- 10 Free Tracks (March 8, 2010)

- Alternative Rock Edition

- Covers, Remixes, and Mashups Edition

- Electronica Edition

- Free Downloads for Your Collection (Feb. 8, 2010)

- Free Downloads for Your Ears (Feb. 1, 2010)

- Fresh and Free Downloads (Jan. 25, 2010)

- Get 10 Free Downloads Right Here! (March 1, 2010)

- Hip-hop Edition

- Labor Day Edition

- Live Edition

- Rock and Pop Edition

- Singer-Songwriter Edition

- This Week’s Free Downloads (Feb. 15, 2010)

- Video Edition

- Your Submissions Edition

- Your Submissions, All Downloads Edition

Tags: free downloads, free music monday, mp3s, music

Space — the final frontier, and all that jazz. As the folk over at the Hubble Telescope website say, “Your body may be trapped at your desk, but your imagination can roam the far reaches of the universe, thanks to the wonders of the web.”

Here’s a spaced-out selection of sites and social media resources that will have you reading the thoughts of astronauts, taking a virtual tour of the International Space Station, and viewing galaxies far, far away.

Get your space geek fix below, and, as always, please do share any resources we’ve overlooked in the comments box.

1. Mission Control: Space Agencies on the Web

There’s a ton of space agencies around the globe, together boasting an estimated $44 billion annual budget to find out more about space. While capabilities vary dramatically from country to country (not all have basic launch capability, let alone manned spaceflight, and the only two with lunar landing capability are NASA and the Russia’s CCCP), most are doing interesting work that can be perused online.

NASA dominates online as it does in space (which might have something to do with the fact that its funding is currently around $12 billion ahead of even the nearest agency), offering the best online experience. You could easily lose yourself in the official NASA site, which is highly recommended if you have a spare 36 hours or so to kill.

Other official online destinations for the major space programs around the globe include the European Space Agency, with which Canada enjoys the special status of a “Cooperating State.” Staying in Europe, both France’s Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales and the German Aerospace Center offer English language versions of their sites, as does the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The official online destination for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, is painfully dry, but chock full of fascinating content if you can stand to stick around, while in contrast, the China National Space Administration site takes a more poetic approach to space exploration. At one point, they explain why the moon is liked by the people of Earth: “because of its thin brilliance that brings lovers with quiet warmth in the night, it is likened to a jade plate or a lovely and graceful woman.”

2. Online Observatories

It goes without saying that the Hubble Telescope’s official site is the go-to place for some amazing real-life space imagery. Thankfully, the official site offers a wealth of photography via galleries, most of which you can download for personal use as desktop wallpaper, etc. Better still, there’s plenty of info explaining what’s in the photos and why it matters. There’s also the option to see where the Hubble is at any time during its 97-minute sweeps around the Earth.

Elsewhere on the web, both Google and Microsoft offer a glimpse of our galaxy. Sky in Google Earth is a feature of the virtual world software that, at the click of a button, will show you the sky above your location with the option to navigate to certain points, or pan and scroll around to see stars, planets, constellations and more — as well as photos from the Hubble.

In addition to mapping the Earth and providing space data, Google offers 3D models of both the Moon and Mars. The features give you a glimpse at lunar landscapes and Apollo landing sites, as well as Martian points of interest like the so-called Face on Mars or Olympus Mons. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can even have a brief chat with a local.

Microsoft’s real-time simulation of the company’s World Wide Telescope project is now integrated into Bing search as a Bing Maps application. In addition to viewing celestial bodies in real-time as if you were to look up at the night sky, there are pre-loaded “collections” of constellations that can be viewed against Streetside (i.e. 3D photo) maps.

If you’d like to know what the innards of the International Space Station look like, you can take a 360-degree tour over at Boeing’s website. NASA offers something similar, but we found Boeing’s option easier to use.

3. Cosmic Connections on Facebook and Twitter

NASA is big on Facebook with over 30 different accounts and Fan Pages. We’re not going to list them all here, rather just point you to NASA’s main account. But you might want to browse the full list and cherry pick the areas you’re interested in following.

You can also connect with U.S. Army Astronauts, and the 1,000-plus people that support them on Facebook. Across the pond, the European Space Agency’s fans number nearly 4,000 space lovers.

The ISS’s Facebook pages, meanwhile, will keep you updated with the goings-on at the cosmic outpost, while becoming a fan of the X PRIZE Foundation will connect you to all the gossip about the multi-million dollar race to the moon, and other endeavors.

Those with an eye to the future can beat the crowds by signing up to fan the James Webb Space Telescope on Facebook. As the successor to the Hubble, the super-duper, high-tech infrared telescope is due to launch in 2014, and the related Facebook Fan Page offers info on the project, as well as the option to comment on it and connect with others who share your interest.

If you want to stay in touch with space organizations and people on a more real-time basis, Twitter has a wealth of accounts that are worth following, including one for the aforementioned Webb Telescope.

As well as following the big agencies like NASA (which offers a useful list of who is in space right now), individual astronauts can followed for a more personal view.

As you can imagine, there are quite a few astronauts who tweet, especially with NASA’s pro-social media approach. But a few to get you started include Mike Massimino, the first man to tweet from space, U.S. Army Astronaut Col. Tim Kopra, Soichi Noguchi, Clayton C. Anderson, Nicole Stott and Naoko Yamazaki.

Tip: If you want to cheat, you can just follow the NASA Astronauts account for more of an overview.

Twisst is great account that offers personalized alerts for when the International Space Station is passing over your geographical area — as it’s visible to the naked eye, it’s certainly worth keeping a look out for it.

Our favorite by far however, is the Twitter home for JPL’s Near Earth Object Office that coordinates NASA’s efforts to detect and track potentially hazardous asteroids and comets headed to, or near, Earth. Follow this account if you’re looking for a heads-up on the planet’s imminent doom.

4. Void-Filling Video

As in other areas, NASA really shines when it comes to online video resources. As well as offering exciting live-streamed launches, there’s a NASA TV area within the site’s main multimedia offerings, an official USTREAM channel, and over ten official YouTube channels including the main one.

You can get your space fix elsewhere on YouTube with the official Hubble account and the European Space Agency. Another spot to watch for relevant content is the Science Channel.

5. An Astronomically Cool App

We run the risk of sounding like NASA cheerleaders here, but the free iPhone app the organization offers is a must-have for iPhone- and iPod touch-owning space geeks. It is, quite simply, mega. You can easily burn ten space-faring minutes at a time on categories like “Missions,” which includes detailed info about ongoing and recent operations, “Images,” with an Image of the Day that you can share via Twitter, Facebook Connect and e-mail, or “Videos” and “Updates,” the latter of which aggregates official feeds from Twitter into a timeline of interesting info. The only catch is that due to the wealth of info the app can access and its dynamic updates, you do need to be connected to use it. But when you are, it’s like having NASA in your pocket.

More social media resources from Mashable:

- How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement

- 6 Ways Law Enforcement Uses Social Media to Fight Crime

- The Science of Building Trust With Social Media

- How Companies Are Using Your Social Media Data

- How Musicians Are Using Social Media to Connect with Fans

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, inhauscreative

Tags: facebook, List, Lists, NASA, ONLINE VIDEO, Science, social media, space, tech, trending, twitter, video, web video

- 31.03.10: Mega Man 10 (Xbox 360 Xbox Live) - 14.04.10: Final Fight: Double Impact (Xbox 360 Xbox Live) - 15.04.10: Final Fight: Double Impact (PS3 PSN) - 23.04.10: Monster Hunter Tri (Wii) - 30.04.10: Super Street Fighter IV (PS3/Xbox 360) - 18.05.10: Lost Planet 2 (PS3/Xbox 360) - Sommer 2010: Mega Man Zero Collection (NDS) - 2010: Sengoku BASARA Samurai Heroes [...]

Prime minister says high-speed internet will save government billions and revolutionise how people access public services

Gordon Brown sought to make the provision of "superfast" broadband into an election issue in a speech on Monday, saying it would save government billions of pounds and revolutionise how people access public services.

The prime minister said that the two alternatives for providing high-speed internet connectivity of 100 megabits per second or more, rather than the 4Mbps average in the UK, were between a market-driven process which would "create two nations: one digitally privileged, one digitally deprived" and the Labour approach, using money from a landline tax and surplus cash from the BBC licence fee to assure universal coverage.

Brown did not directly refer to the Conservatives' plans, which would encourage phone companies to build 100Mbps systems through competition. Independent analysis suggests that the Conservative plans would mean that their core vote in rural constituencies would be the last to benefit from such systems – if they reach them at all.

In his speech , Brown said the choice of how to fund the building of high-speed broadband, which requires the installation of fibre-optic cable over large distances, was clear: "We can allow unbridled market forces to provide a solution on its own terms and according to its own timetable as others would do. The result would be superfast broadband coverage determined not even by need or social justice, or by the national interest but by profitability alone. This would open a lasting, pervasive and damaging new digital divide." Instead, he said, the £6-a-year landline tax – which the Tories have said they would abolish – would help fund installation. "We say that Britain's digital future must be a future for all, not just for some. But if every household is to benefit, then it is fair that every household contributes to meeting this goal."

"Superfast broadband is the electricity of the digital age. And I believe it must be for all – not just for some," Brown said, arguing that it goes far beyond the convenience of online shopping.

Relying on the market to roll out superfast broadband "would allow the country to become split between a fast track and a slow track to the future", and "betrays a total failure to grasp the scale of the educational, economic and social opportunities that it brings". The digital economy could create 250,000 skilled jobs by 2020, he said.

"Faster broadband speeds will bring new, cheaper, more personalised and more effective public services to people; it will bring games and entertainment options with new levels of sophistication; it will make accessing goods and services immeasurably easier," he said. "In short, the world available to those with superfast broadband will be unimaginably richer than to those without."

Brown also set out a raft of measures to create personalised web pages for everyone to interact with government services, saying that the potential savings of moving to paper-free systems ran to £20bn, and that the chancellor, Alistair Darling, will set out how that would be achieved in the budget on Wednesday.

But he refused to suggest the cancellation of the NHS's IT modernisation project, which is now expected to cost £12bn rather than the initial estimate of £1bn, and be delivered in 2015 rather than 2006.

Unions have complained that thousands of public sector workers would be made jobless, and that personal data would put at risk given the state's poor security record in recent years.

Brown argued that the digital revolution will be especially vital in jobcentres, schools, hospital records and to ensure that when people move home they need only inform one website rather than a plethora of government agencies.

Council tax, rubbish collection and parking permits, as well as finding a new doctor and dentist, would automatically appear when someone logs on to their government account to change their address.

The developments should also allow the sidelining of Whitehall planning, because it will be far easier to predict the services the public needs and wants.

In an indication of the scale of savings available to Whitehall, the work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, will publish findings showing her department has already saved more than £1bn, largely because of services going online.

Cooper's report says the government can save more than £100m a year by helping people claim their pension and Jobseeker's Allowance online, £40m by reducing office space, over £110m by getting more value out of contracts and £200m by benefit delivery changes.

Brown did not specify how the government would stimulate the provision of superfast broadband: it is presently considering responses to the two models – one which would encourage provision from the most remote areas towards urban centres, and the other starting at outlying areas and building towards the most remote ones.

Ministers have been looking at delivering some benefits entirely online, but are wary because 4 million people who have never used the internet are also among the heaviest users of central and local government services.

The next benefits to be put on line are likely to be full jobseeker's allowance, followed by child benefit and tax credits. Jim Knight, the work and pensions minister, said: "People will be able to look up jobs, have new jobs in their areas pushed to them, and manage their benefits claim." The JobCentre database will be opened up via an application program interface to third-party developers so that they could develop new uses for the information.

A key part of achieving those savings will be getting more people online, and Brown said that he has asked Martha Lane-Fox, the digital entrepreneur who is already the government's "digital champion", to extend her role and become the head of a new "digital public services unit" within the cabinet office. By autumn the government will also set out a "Domesday book" of all the available non-personal datasets held in central government, which anybody would be able to use commercially.

"I want Britain to be the world leader in the digital economy," said Brown, who said that superfast broadband can "give voice and choice to citizens, parents, patients and consumers".

The speech is a clear sign of the parties' maneouvring ahead of the election, expected to be called on 6 April to be held on 6 May. In the past month the Tories and Labour have been jockeying for position over their commitment to creating more accessible online government services, broadband and also public access to non-personal government data, with the Tories saying they would introduce a "right to public data" bill to let people request and receive public datasets, publishing details of government contracts worth more than £25,000 online, encouraging use of free open-source software in government development, and encouraging telecoms companies to offer superfast broadband. Labour has pointed to the creation of the data.gov.uk website, which holds non-personal datasets from a growing number of central government departments, its latest announcement on superfast broadband, and the plan announced in November – and reiterated by Brown today – to make a wide range of Ordnance Survey mapping data free for commercial reuse from 1 April. Brown also pledged to make other data, such as bus timetables, available for commercial reuse by others in future franchises.

Brown insisted that the threats of the digital economy bill – which is being rushed through parliament, and could become law ahead of the election – to "temporarily suspend" internet accounts of people accused of copyright infringement online would be resolved.

£30m will be allocated to create an Institute of Web Science, headed by internet inventor Sir Tim Berners Lee and leading scientist Professor Nigel Shadbolt. It is intended to be an academic base to enable research into the semantic web and other emerging web and internet technologies, and ensure that government is taking the right funding decisions to position the UK as a world leader. "We will invite universities and private sector web developers and companies to join this collaborative project," said Brown.

Following up 2008’s The Greenhouse Effect, Asher Roth will say “bon appétit” with tomorrow’s Seared Foie Gras With Quince And Cranberry. Seasoned by 16 producers, Asher’s succulent feast comes served with side orders of B.o.B., Blu, Pac Div, Ryan Leslie, and Talib Kweli.

Likewise, DJ Holiday will put out the sequel to Gucci Mane’s The BurrrPrint on April 13. The incarcerated rapper’s latest will feature guest spots by DJ Khaled, Jim Jones, Lil’ Kim, Rick Ross, and Trey Songz. In addition, HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, and RapStarPromo are in the home stretch of their united process of releasing 31 mixtapes in 31 days. The following is the upcoming release schedule:

March 15
Aleon Craft & SMKA The Prologue Part One
Consequence Movies On Demand
Grynch & DJ Nphared The Rapping About Rapping
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, Lil Fats & Statik Selektah Coast 2 Coast 117
Theo Martins & DJ Wreckineyez Channel Surfin’
Trackstar The DJ, Jay-Z, & Lupe Fiasco From Marcy To Madison St.
TRUTHLiVE The Unlearning EP

March 16
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, & DJ Khaled Half Time Report
Frank Ramz Frankenstein
S.A.S. Mega & Mayhem’s Excellent Adventure
Solomon Childs The Young General
The Kickdrums Coachella: The Indio Sessions: Day One

March 17
Arkansas Bo (of Suga City) The Notebook
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, iLLAJ & DJ DocAdam Something Like Dali: Lost In Paradise

March 18
DJ JS-1 & Common The Common Collection
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, & Warren G Coast 2 Coast Exclusive Series Vol. 16
Justin Bieber & Lee Bannon Bieber Bannon Beat Tape

March 19
Dela The Robert Glasper Beat Tape
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, & DJ NoPhrillz Coast 2 Coast Power Hour

March 20
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, & Lil Fats Coast 2 Coast Instruments 18



March 21
HipHopDX, Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes, Datpiff.com, Bottom Feeder Music, RapStarPromo, Lil Fats & Three 6 Mafia Coast 2 Coast 118
Mick Boogie & Pharrell Williams (of The Neptunes) So Ambitious: Sounds Of Miami Volume 4
Ryan Leslie & Rob Pursey R-Les For President

March 23
Asher Roth, DJ Wreckineyez, & James “Scrappy” Stassen Seared Foie Gras With Quince And Cranberry
Flamboyant Faculty Class In Session
Jim Jones The Ghost Of Rich Porter
JR Writer Still Standing
Shawn Chrystopher, Mick Boogie, & Terry Urban The Audition
Show Tufli Soldier Of Love

March 26
XV, DJ Ill Will & DJ Rockstar Vizzy Zone

March 29
Donnis Fashionably Late

March 30
Balance, DJ Ill Will, & DJ Rockstar We All In
Ski Beatz 24 Hour Karate School

April 1
K-Beta Inglorious Beta

April 5
Big K.R.I.T. K.R.I.T. Wuz Here



April 6
J. Stalin & Philthy Rich Early Morning Shift: The Mixtape Vol. 3
Sean Falyon Sean Falyon BE Everywhere

April 12
Chris Faust FAUST
Stat Quo 2010 Mixtape

April 13
Cam’ron Mixtape
Gucci Mane, DJ Holiday, & 1017 Brick Squad The BurrrPrint 2 HD
Nu Jerzey Devil The Say Now Digital Mixtape
Royce Da 5’9” (of Slaughterhouse) Bar Exam 3

April 19
Aleon Craft & SMKA The Prologue Part Two

April 20
Lefty (of Bash Bros.), Tab-One (of Kooley High), & DJ Concept Monsters Ink
Lil Keke (of Screwed Up Click) Addicted 2 Fame
The West Coast Road Trip (The Official 420 Mixtape)

April 21
ESSO The Anti-Socialite

April 23
ArtOfficial The Payback

April 26
Aleon Craft & SMKA The Prologue

May 4
Styles P (of The L.O.X.) The Ghost 2010

Hot on the heels of the largest, and one of the most prestigious, mountain festivals in the world, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour has hit the road, with stops planned in about 285 communities and 30 countries across the globe.

This year's tour features a collection of the most inspiring and thought-provoking action, environmental, and adventure mountain films. Traveling from remote landscapes and cultures to up close and personal with adrenaline-packed action sports, the 2009/2010 World Tour is an exhilarating and provocative exploration of the mountain world.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is produced by Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre, and features award-winning films and audience favorites from approximately 300 films entered in the annual festival in Banff.

Join the U.S. National Whitewater Center when the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour brings the spirit of outdoor adventure to Charlotte, NC at 7pm on March 24th, 2010. Redwood Creek winery will be providing free wine samples, and other food, wine, beer and refreshments will be available for purchase.

Films for the Banff Film Festival have been specially selected for the Whitewater Center and include:

- MedeoZ - Focus: multi-sport, humor
First Acent - Alone on the Wall - Focus: rock climbing, free solo climbing
Deep/Shinsetsu - Focus: powder skiing
Pick-up Sticks - Focus: environment
Take a Seat - Focus: human interest story, adventure, biking
Project Megawoosh - Focus: humor, spoof
Kranked: Revolve - Focus: mountain biking
Africa Revolutions Tour - Focus: white-water kayaking

Purchase a Banff ticket and receive $10 off a CoolSport ($29) or an AllSport ($49) Pass. (Pass must be purchased on the night of the event).
For tickets and information please visit www.usnwc.org

Source: http://www.pr.com

Prime minister will hail potential to open new interactive form of politics in which citizens develop new relationship with MPs

Gordon Brown will tomorrow liken the arrival of superfast broadband to the invention of electricity, saying it will save the government billions of pounds and revolutionise the provision of public services.

The prime minister will also hail its potential to open a new interactive form of politics in which citizens develop a new kind of relationship with their MPs.

In a speech designed to show that he is the man to renew Britain, Brown will say superfast broadband can "give voice and choice to citizens, parents, patients and consumers".

He will suggest the technology can allow Britain to become "the world leader in the new politics where that voice for feedback and deliberative decisions can transform the way we make local and national decisions".

The prime minister believes discussions using the web will make it far easier to find out in depth what the public believes about specific issues, thus changing the current role of MP as the representative of a constituency.

Brown will argue that the digital revolution will be especially vital in job centres, schools, hospital records and ensuring that, when people move home, they need only inform one website rather than a plethora of government agencies.

Council tax, rubbish collection, parking permits, as well as finding a new doctor and dentist, would automatically appear when someone logs on to their government account to change their address.

The developments should also allow the sidelining of Whitehall planning, because it will be far easier to predict the services the public needs and wants.

In an indication of the scale of savings available to Whitehall, the work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, will publish findings showing her department has already saved more than £1bn, largely because of services going online.

Cooper's report says the government can save more than £100m a year by helping people claim their pension and Jobseeker's Allowance online, £40m by reducing office space, over £110m by getting more value out of contracts and £200m by benefit delivery changes.

Ministers have been looking at delivering some benefits entirely online, but are wary because of the large numbers of people still not on the internet.

The next benefits to be put on line are likely to be full Jobseeker's Allowance, followed by child benefit and tax credits.

Jim Knight, the work and pensions minister, said: "People will be able to look up jobs, have new jobs in their areas pushed to them, and manage their benefits claim." The JobCentre database will be opened up via an application program interface to third-party developers so that they could develop new uses for the information.Brown will also attempt to draw a dividing line between Labour and the Tories, saying only state intervention in the form of the government's telephone tax,, will ensure superfast broadband infrastructure is available across Britain.

Brown will say the £6 a year digital tax on phones will raise between £175m and £200m each year, enabling the superfast broadband infrastructure to be extended nationwide.

"Faster broadband speeds will bring new, cheaper, more personalised and more effective public services to people; it will bring games and entertainment options with new levels of sophistication; it will make accessing goods and services immeasurably easier," Brown will say.

"In short, the world available to those with superfast broadband will be unimaginably richer than to those without."

The government has called for superfast broadband of 50 megabits persecond r above to be made available to 90% of the country by the end of 2017.

The Conservatives plan to raise a smaller sum from 2013 from cash left over from the digital TV switchover fund.

BT plans to offer a mixture of high-speed broadband technologies to around 40% of the country, while Virgin Media has made cable broadband, capable of speeds of around 50Mbps, available to half the UK's homes.

Prime minister will hail potential to open new interactive form of politics in which citizens develop new relationship with MPs

Gordon Brown will tomorrow liken the arrival of superfast broadband to the invention of electricity, saying it will save the government billions of pounds and revolutionise the provision of public services.

The prime minister will also hail its potential to open a new interactive form of politics in which citizens develop a new kind of relationship with their MPs.

In a speech designed to show that he is the man to renew Britain, Brown will say superfast broadband can "give voice and choice to citizens, parents, patients and consumers".

He will suggest the technology can allow Britain to become "the world leader in the new politics where that voice for feedback and deliberative decisions can transform the way we make local and national decisions".

The prime minister believes discussions using the web will make it far easier to find out in depth what the public believes about specific issues, thus changing the current role of MP as the representative of a constituency.

Brown will argue that the digital revolution will be especially vital in job centres, schools, hospital records and ensuring that, when people move home, they need only inform one website rather than a plethora of government agencies.

Council tax, rubbish collection, parking permits, as well as finding a new doctor and dentist, would automatically appear when someone logs on to their government account to change their address.

The developments should also allow the sidelining of Whitehall planning, because it will be far easier to predict the services the public needs and wants.

In an indication of the scale of savings available to Whitehall, the work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, will publish findings showing her department has already saved more than £1bn, largely because of services going online.

Cooper's report says the government can save more than £100m a year by helping people claim their pension and Jobseeker's Allowance online, £40m by reducing office space, over £110m by getting more value out of contracts and £200m by benefit delivery changes.

Ministers have been looking at delivering some benefits entirely online, but are wary because of the large numbers of people not on the internet.

The next benefits to be put on line are likely to be full Jobseeker's Allowance, followed by child benefit and tax credits.

Jim Knight, the work and pensions minister, said: "People will be able to look up jobs, have new jobs in their areas pushed to them, and manage their benefits claim."

Brown will also attempt to draw a dividing line between Labour and the Tories, saying only state intervention in the form of the government's telephone tax will ensure superfast broadband infrastructure is available across Britain.

Brown will say the £6 a year digital tax on phones will raise between £175m and £200m each year, enabling the superfast broadband infrastructure to be extended nationwide.

"Faster broadband speeds will bring new, cheaper, more personalised and more effective public services to people; it will bring games and entertainment options with new levels of sophistication; it will make accessing goods and services immeasurably easier," Brown will say.

"In short, the world available to those with superfast broadband will be unimaginably richer than to those without."

The government has called for superfast broadband of 50 megabits persecond r above to be made available to 90% of the country by the end of 2017.

The Conservatives plan to raise a smaller sum from 2013 from cash left over from the digital TV switchover fund.

BT plans to offer a mixture of high-speed broadband technologies to around 40% of the country, while Virgin Media has made cable broadband, capable of speeds of around 50Mbps, available to half the UK's homes.

That Blurry Line

Traditionally, we see fiction as made up, invented, and nonfiction as somehow true, fact-based. In this essay David Shields, our favorite bomb-thrower and author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, points out that this distinction doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. “Memory is a dream machine,” Shields writes. “Nonfiction isn't ‘true.’ It's a framing device to foreground contemplation, or at least it is in the nonfiction I love the most.” Thomas DeQuincey’s famous Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821), for example, is a heavily fictionalized story of his addiction and recovery even as he continued using opium.
Los Angeles Times


She Prefers Nonfiction
British historian Juliet Gardiner runs a balance sheet on writing fiction versus nonfiction in this clever essay. While many of the techniques are the same, she says, nonfiction writers have one profound advantage: they don’t have to invent everything. As Richard Holmes said when he was writing his biography of the poet Shelley, "At least I always have the man."
The Guardian

The Gordon Lish Collection
Perhaps best known as Raymond Carver’s extremely hands-on editor, Gordon Lish also writes fiction of a minimalist sort. Kirkus Reviews calls him “still our Joyce, our Beckett, our most true modernist,” but we prefer Blake Butler’s take: “In literary America, to utter the name Gordon Lish in a conversation is like adding hot sauce to a meal.” His Collected Fictions have just come out and the word “fictions” is telling. They’re “partly true, partly untrue,” as Lish says in the five-minute video commercial for the book – which is apparently not a parody of a macho writer in winter gassing on.
HTML Giant

Why Is Women’s Fiction So Misery-Laden?
Since 1996 the UK’s Orange Prize has gone to a woman author of the best novel in English. When the long list for this year’s prize came out, British TV producer and poet Daisy Goodwin, chair of the judges’ committee, set off a controversy with her remarks. “There were times I felt like a social worker,” she said. “There’s not been much wit and not much joy; there’s a lot of grimness out there…. Pleasure seems to have become a rather neglected element in publishing.” Novelist Jojo Moyes says yes, but isn’t this kind of nastiness pretty much the rule in serious literary fiction no matter the author’s sex?
The Telegraph

Extreme Crowd-Sourcing
The Williamsburg (VA) Regional Library runs a cool blog called Blogging for a Good Book. One of their bloggers, Neil Hollands, has compiled an Aggregated Megalist of the best reads of 2009 based on 140 sources. Reminds me of the consensus of All-American football teams when I was a kid. And the winner for best fiction? Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, beating out Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs.
Blogging for a Good Book

A Nation of Young Adults
Young adult (YA) lit is hot. Big-time authors like Sherman Alexie are writing it, and 40-year-olds are reading it. Last year book sales of hardcover adult titles were down 18 percent while YA and children’s sales were up 31 percent. Susan Carpenter explains why more books are passing “the mother test” and fueling the surge.
Baltimore Sun





A Wiki of Her Own
Some writers like to use an outline; some like such software as Liquid Story Binder. Chicago fiction writer, graphic designer, and gamer Leah Raeder prefers a wiki. The wiki software helps her sketch out and organize characters, plots, and motifs as inspiration occurs over weeks or months. Sort of like Wikipedia, only with a single contributor. We at 317am say whatever keeps your juices flowing and gets you through the night is just great.
Words Fail Me

The latest in a (more or less) weekly series of reviews throughout 2010, on randomly-selected episodes of the original Star Trek series, and presented in a "live blog" format as I rewatch the episode. Why? Well...why not?



Tonight's episode:
"Requiem for Methuselah"
third season
episode #76
original airdate: February 14, 1969

Summary: The Enterprise journeys to a supposedly uninhabited planet searching for the cure to a deadly disease afflicting the crew, and hijinks ensue. Oh, and this is the one with the guy they ripped off for Highlander.


The Enterprise arrives in orbit above a small planet in the Omega system (though not one prone to copying the U.S. Constitution verbatim like a bunch of plagiarizing pricks), its crew suffering from an epidemic of Rigellian fever. In order to combat the disease, a supply of Ryetalyn, the only substance known to be capable of curing the affliction, must be found. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy - the only members of the crew with contracts for the entire season, remain unaffected by the disease, and beam down in search of the life-saving mineral.

Once on the surface and - lacking any apparent means of collecting the ryetalyn other than digging it out with their bare hands - Kirk and Company are confronted by some sort of robot drone, which to the untrained eye looks like something that might've escaped from the top of a Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. The drone starts shooting, and somehow disables the landing party's phasers, and is closing in to royally fuck up Jimmy T's day before it's called off by its owner, "Mr. Flint." Flint orders Kirk to get his fat ass of the planet, or else shit's gonna fly.

Duh duh DUHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Kirk, his manhood questioned, orders Scotty to train all phasers on his coordinates. Suck that, Mr. Flint! The mysterious loner relents, and after McCoy described the effects of Rigellian fever, Flint pontificates about the bubonic plague epidemic that ravaged Constantinople in 1334. Talk about your segues. When asked by Spock if he's a student of history, Flint nods slowly, almost sadly, and answers. "I am."

Nah, there's probably nothing to that.

Flint tells Kirk he as two hours to get his shit and get gone, offering the services of the robot drone, which he calls "M-4" (no apparent relation to the M-5 super computer that was all ate-up with the dumbass in the previous season's episode "The Ultimate Computer"). He then invites Kirk and company to his home for refreshments.

Arriving at the Kaylar's fortress on Rigel VII Flint's castle, the landing party is treated to a quick tour of the place where shit from Antique Roadshow goes to die. Little do they know that as they converse, they're being watched by a hot blonde chick on her kickin' flat-screen TV. Among Flint's possessions on display throughout the front room are a "Shakespeare first folio, a Guttenberg Bible," and a few other choice tomes that form one of the most interesting collections of rare books McCoy's ever seen. Spock further comments about Flint's art collection, which is also as rare as it is eclectic.

We get it. Flint has an eBay fetish.

Elsewhere, Flint is talking with the hot blonde chick, Rayna. She wants to talk to the Enterprise officers, but Flint's having none of that. Her questions to him make her appear as a child. Or is she...something else???.

Nah. Probably not.

Meanwhile, McCoy and Kirk have found Flint's liquor cabinet. Even Spock wants a little Captain in him, expressing envy at the mysterious Flint's art collection. Among the paintings are several apparently unknown works by Leonardo da Vinci. The enigma is that the canvas and paints -- according to Spock's tricorder -- are of contemporary origin. What's up with that shit?

While Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are enjoying the free booze, M-4 arrives with a dimebag of crystal meth...uh...I mean, ryetalyn. Flint arrives, sucking up and trying to make nice after being a total dick earlier, and introduces Rayna to the landing party. According to him, she's the orphaned daughter of a friend who perished and now living with Flint as his ward. As you've probably already guessed, Kirk takes absolutely no interest in her. At all.

Rayna, however, homes in on Spock, talking nerdy to him and wanting to discuss various science-related topics. Flint offers a few activities to pass the time while M-4 processes the ryetalyn. In short order, Rayna is schooling Kirk old-school in billiards, and Spock is continuing his inspection of Flint's collection. Flint tells Spock to play him a song, because he's apparently the only one who knew Spock could play the piano. The next thing we know, Spock's pulling a Billy Joel, "la la la, de de da"ing right along, while Kirk and Rayna audition for Dancing With the Stars<.

McCoy shows up, letting Kirk knows that the crystal meth ryetalyn cooked up by M-4 sucks donkey balls, containing impurities and other crap as often happens when you make this shit in your garage. Flint offers to supervise the collection of more raw ryetalyn and do some breaking bad of his own, and he and McCoy head out to CVS or wherever to get the stuff they need. Spock, apparently not giving a damn about any of that, chooses this point to tell Kirk that the music he just played looks to have been written by the hand of , this time sheet music apparently written by the hand of famed ancient Earth composer Johannes Brahms, though it's on modern parchment. Say what?

Heading to Flint's lab, Kirk is poking around when Rayna shows up, and the good captain sees his opportunity to put on some of The Moves without Flint or Spock to get all up in his grill. She seems distracted, though, checking out a door in the lab that Flint's told her is VERBOTEN! She's troubled about something, but she doesn't know. It's these slow, streeeeeeeeeetched-out scenes that drag down far too many third-season stories which give me time to ruminate on the little things - like how bad Shatner needs a haircut and the nasty hair on the back of his neck trimmed with a straight razor, and the line of the girdle he was wearing under his uniform tunic at this point in the season. Man....my childhood hero has the same middle-aged spread I have. Damn.

Ah, well.

Kirk asks Rayna if she's happy living here with Flint, and she responds with unabashed adoration. For most people, that might be a sufficient answer, but not for CAPTAIN JAMES TIBERIUS BY THE GRACE OF GOD KIRK. Oh, no. Uh-uh. The gauntlet's been thrown down, yo, and Jimmy T knows just what to do next. Pucker up, buttercup. Don't be afraid. I've got candy, and so on.

Well, M-4 shows up, and it's got some shit to say about that.

The drone and Kirk do a little face-off, with Rayna telling M-4 to knock off that shit, but it's not listening. That's when Spock arrives in the nick of time and totally pwns the robot with his phaser. Take that, you Nomad knock-off-lookin' motherfucker!

Flint apologizes to Kirk, essentially telling him, "I should've known you'd be a dumbass, and told M-4 to just let you dumbass away." Then another drone appears, a replacement for the one Spock phaserfied, and Kirk and Flint engage in a bit of macho dick measuring before Flint heads off to check on Dr. McCoy and the processing of a new batch of ryetalyn. When he calls for Rayna to accompany him, she demonstrates reluctance to go with him, and Kirk is none too happy with the way he sees Flint treating her. Spock suggests that Kirk stop thinking with his little head for a while, but Kirk can't figure out the mixed signals Flint's sending with respect to Kirk's interactions with Rayna. "First he hooks us up, then he cock-blocks me. WHAT THE FUCK?"

Hmm...the closed captioning on my TV might be a bit off again.

Anyway, it seems that investigations into Flint's backgrounds are hitting dead ends. Uhura can't seem to find a record of him anywhere, and Spock's tricorder readings note that while Flint's human, he appears to be at least 6,000 years old. Kirk then realizes that something's up with respect to the ryetalyn processing. Is the delay deliberate? Is Flint keeping the landing party around for some hidden purpose?

The mystery deepens when Scotty contacts Kirk from the Enterprise and tells Kirk that there's no one by the name of Rayna Kapec in Federation databanks, no records of Flint being awarded custody of any orphaned child, nothing. Like Flint, she appears to be living totally off the grid. Spock suggests that all of this is secondary to getting the ryetalyn back to the ship, and he and Kirk are setting off in search of McCoy when Rayna appears. She's come to say good-bye, but Jimmy T's not about to leave until he samples the goods, if you know what I mean. He's closing in for the kill, and Rayna is all about all about getting a little Captain in her, if you know what I mean.

What Kirk doesn't know....what likely would dematerialize his little T-rektion if he were to find out, is that his every move is being watched by Flint on his VoyeurVision setup. Ewwwwww!!!!

While McCoy and Spock are trying to figure out where that darned robot is with the processed ryetalyn, Kirk's busy trying to convince Rayna that she loves him and that she should run off with him. She instead just runs off, leaving Jimmy T with a raging pair of decrystalized dilithium crystals, if you'll pardon the shameless Trekified innuendo. Kirk heads to the lab to learn that the ryetalyn's missing and that Flint appears to be jerking them around again. Spock locates it behind that mysterious door in the lab, and Kirk's about to blast it when it chooses that moment to slide open. Moody damned thing, ain't it?

Kirk is about to head inside when Spock suddenly blocks the door, offering to go inside alone and fetch the ryetalyn. Kirk and McCoy, understandably just as confused as the rest of us, ask Spock what's up with that shit. Rather than explain himself, Spock eventually steps aside, thereby extending this already too long episode by another minute for no discernible fucking reason whatsoever. Kirk leads the way into the secret room, and they find...well, another room. It's in there that they find the ryetalyn (three shot glasses' worth? To vaccinate 430 people?), but they also discover something else: androids that look like Rayna. After at least 16 "attempts," Flint apparently has built the perfect woman, with whom Kirk has fallen in love.

That guy. I tell ya.

Flint shows up to explain himself, and that's when it all comes out...Flint is "immortal," having been born on Earth 6,000 years ago and lived under numerous identities down through the centuries: Johannes Brahms, Leonardo da Vinci, Solomon, Alexander, Lazarus, Methuselah, Merlin, Abramson, Russell Nash, Connor MacLeod, etc. He's spent millennia living among friends, family, and lovers, then moving on before the nature of his immortality is suspected. Tired of watching lovers grow old and die, he strove to create an artificial companion, one who like him would not age with the passage of time. He contends that Kirk can't love her, because she's not real...except to Flint.

Why he didn't just order one of those "Real Dolls" from the internet is anybody's guess.

Kirk, realizing that *he's* the one who'll be doing some of that net-shopping, wants to leave, but Flint forbids it. They know his secret see, and he doesn't them to run off and blab to the galaxy that he's here. You see, he hasn't gotten the memo from Zefram Cochrane that these guys are good about not running off at the mouth about where to find famous figures from history who've tapped a keg from the Fountain of Youth. Kirk tries to contact the Enterprise, but Flint pushes a button a remote-control thingamabob he's got in his pocket, and POOF! The ship disappears from orbit!

The next thing we know, Flint's order of a model Enterprise from Masterpiece Replicas shows up. Oh, wait! It's the REAL Enterprise, reduced to the size of a fanboy's wet dream. The crew is trapped inside, shrunk down and frozen in time! Kirk is dumbstruck by this demonstration of Flint's power, but Flint shrugs and says, "Hey, I said I'd make you my bitch. Now suck it."

Kirk demands that Flint release his ship and crew, but Flint's focus is elsewhere. Rayna's emotions are churning you see, and he's got just the prescription for what ails her. Awwwwwwwwwwww yeah. Rayna overhears him, and it's obvious that she's not gonna like hanging with Flint in his swank crib if he insists on being a big ol' meanie to Jimbo and the gang. Flint relents, returning the Enterprise to its proper place in orbit. Kirk realizes that Flint's delaying tactics were deliberate, using the captain to stir Rayna's nascent emotions like the tenth-degree horn dog that he is. Now that Jim's got the pump primed (I know, I'm really going for broke with all these clever euphemisms, aren't I?), Flint's ready to take the conn and (forgive me) go where no man has gone before. (Audience "If you know what I mean!")

Kirk: "But hey! I love her, and she loves me!"
Flint: "Oh no he di-int!"

The next thing you know, Kirk and Flint are in full-on fisticuffs mode, battling for to defend Rayna's honor. After 6,000 years, you'd think Flint would've picked up a move or two. Obviously none of his past identities were Chuck Norris, Steven Segal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Still, he does a pretty good job tossing Kirk around the room like a gorilla going after an American Tourister suitcase. Observing all of this, Rayna gets upset when she realizes that she's what's driving this testosterone-fest. "Enough of this shit!" she says. She'll be the one choosing where she goes and who she'll be going with. However, the strain of such unchecked emotion for the first time is too much for her. Unable to bear hurting either Kirk or Flint with her choice, she dies.

Later, after leaving Flint's planet, the Enterprise crew has dealt with the plague, and Spock reports to Kirk's cabin to tell him that they're on course for their next assignment. Kirk, in total emo mode, is lamenting the loss of Rayna and his loneliness before he puts his head down on his desk and wishes he could forget the whole thing (We pause here to throw up.). McCoy shows up, and tells Spock that Flint is dying, having sacrificed immortality by leaving Earth and whatever special conditions there brought about his unique existence in the first place. He will live the rest of whatever natural lifespan remains to him and then die.

Once McCoy leaves, Spock reaches over to Kirk and performs a Vulcan mind-meld, helping him to "forget."

(Which of course makes you wonder just what else he's made people forget over the years. Sneaky bastard.)

-----

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for "person out of time" stories, be they variations on Rip Van Winkle or Buck Rogers - where a character suddenly finds him/herself thrown far into the future - or like Flint, who are walking windows into history, having witnessed it firsthand and lived through the proceeding generations in order to be our guides. I dig characters like Connor MacLeod from the Highlander films, Casca the Eternal Mercenary, and even Elias Vaughn, who has lived long enough to experience the major eras of the Star Trek universe.

That said, the potential that came with the creation of the Flint character is largely wasted in "Requiem for Methuselah."

With this episode, we're very late in the game so far as third-season Star Trek is concerned, and it's starting to show around the edges. Like I said before, little details like controlling Shatner's hair have fallen a bit by the wayside, and the number of characters is cut to the absolute bare minimum to get through the episode. The only scenes set aboard the Enterprise are a couple of quick hits on the bridge and the ending scene in Kirk's quarters. Otherwise it's Flint's house. Even with the opening sequence set "outside," it's still just a bottle show, though one that takes place away from the standing Enterprise sets.

The story, again, is a talky affair, though it's at least interesting to listen to Flint recount what we soon "discover" are memories from throughout the thousands of years he's lived. Actor James Daly turns in a commendable performance working with what he's given, his naturally craggy face imbuing a certain world-weary quality into the millennia-old Flint. As for Rayna, the idea of building an android which might one day know what it's like to be human is interesting. Too bad Star Trek never followed up on the story potential there, right? Still, actor Louise Sorel does a nice job affecting a childlike innocence for Rayna, as well as providing subtle hints through word and action that the young woman is not what she at first appears to be. Later, she pulls off Rayna's "awakening" with intense emotion, only straying a bit too close to the line of demarcation for balls-out scenery chewing on one or two occasions. Shatner, on the other hand, has a couple of those classic Shatnerian moments, particularly when he's imploring Rayna to run away with him.

I'll give the writers and producers credit for finding an interesting way to show us the smaller Enterprise filming miniature. It's the original 3-foot model as designed by Matt Jefferies in 1964 and referenced by the model makers who later would build the larger model used for filming the bulk of the Enterprise optical scenes. While the larger model is interred at the Smithsonian, this smaller version has been lost for many years, a bit of TV and Star Trek history that's probably sitting over someone's fireplace. Sharp-eyed fans can see several noticeable differences between the two models, particularly in the shape of the saucer section. This little bit of geekitude is yet another of the many services we try to provide for our readers here at Wayback Reviews Headquarters.

I suppose one could argue that we get a little insight into the Kirk psyche with respect to his relationships with women. Every time we've seen him find someone with whom he could truly be happy - maybe even to the point of giving up that which he most holds dear, command of the Enterprise - it ends in tragedy for him. With that kind of track record, I might consider just going for the one-night stand, too. That, or just move to a cabin in Montana with a dog and a footlocker of beef jerky.

I wish they could've explored Flint's past in greater detail, but lucky for me, I get to write Star Trek novels every so often. Maybe one of these days I'll come up with a cool story where I can use the character. Meanwhile, Flint has made a couple of memorable appearances within the "expanded universe" of Star Trek novels: Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, and The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume I, by Greg Cox.

As for the episode? Middle of the road third-season entry. Eh.

The Blind Side star is only the latest in a long line of actresses to see their marriages collapse right after taking Oscar home. The consequences for us filmgoers can only be dire

This week we've barely been able to move for hearing about the curse of the Oscars. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, it's basically this – when you win an Academy Award for best actress, your world collapses. Hilary Swank and Reese Witherspoon got divorced shortly after winning their Oscars, while Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts and Halle Berry all experienced similar heartache soon after they won theirs. It all seemed like a coincidence, but things became a little more suspicious when Kate Winslet announced her separation from Sam Mendes this week.

And now that Sandra Bullock's husband Jesse James has been accused of a predilection for women called Bombshell who have words tattooed across their foreheads, that suspicion has turned into something approaching unequivocal fact. The curse of the Oscars exists.

There's no point arguing about why these partnerships break up, because it doesn't matter. The simple fact is that as soon as you win a best actress Oscar, your marriage is doomed. And the consequences of this discovery are enormous.

Most people, unless they're legitimately berserk, would rather keep their marriage intact than win a little golden trinket at a smug little awards bash. And because of this, we're set for a future where – motivated by nothing but fear – all actresses will have to do everything in their power to avoid being nominated for an Oscar.

There are essentially two ways for them to do this – one is by acting badly, and the other is to make bad films. The first option is fraught with danger. Let's say that Helen Mirren was so eager to save her marriage that she gave her character in The Last Station a lisp, an inexplicable Mexican accent, a prosthetic nose the size of a shoe and a collection of facial tics so distracting that viewers were unable to follow any of her dialogue. She sits back, confident in the knowledge that her performance is so resolutely hopeless that she doesn't stand a chance of being nominated for any awards at all. But – oh no! – she's forgotten that the Oscar voters love prosthetics and facial tics more than anything on the planet. They start calling her work "challenging" and "career-defining". Disaster. She may as well start consulting a divorce lawyer immediately.

The second option is much safer. That's why I can confidently predict that, this time next year, cinemas will be full of incredibly bad films starring our most celebrated actresses, all desperately trying to avoid the curse of the Oscars. You know the kind of thing I mean – Cate Blanchett making a low-budget Channel Five-esque action film about gun-toting gangsters on the streets of LA with DMX and Ja Rule. Or Nicole Kidman signing up to play the lead in Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus 2. Or Meryl Streep playing an offensive Hollywood stereotype of a Japanese woman with giant teeth and uncontrollable diarrhoea in a Farrelly brothers movie called Me So Poopy.

It may not be pretty but, damn it, it's necessary. If these actresses are serious about making their marriages work, then they're just going to have to do the decent thing and avoid any semblance of professional competence for the rest of their careers. It seems to have worked for Halle Berry, anyway.

I just fixed a Technics SL-B10 turntable for the local used record shop (IKO's Music Trade). He had me take it, to see if it was worth fixing (and what it might need). Upon powering it up, I noticed a motor chatter that I'd heard once before. About 14 years ago, I encountered the same exact problem with a similar (early 80s) Technics belt drive (the one with the motor soldered onto the board, with the I/C and "tacho-generator" ring thingy built into the bottom of the motor). I desoldered the motor from the board, so I could access the part that was rubbing. On this one and the previous one I fixed, I notice that the exposed outer edge of the plastic support (for the tacho-generator magnet ring) becomes brittle and "tears away", resulting in rubbing and the telltale chatter sound. Like the previous one, I simply peeled away the remainder (the magnet ring appears to be bonded, and wasn't loose at all). So I simply re-soldered the motor to the board and reassembled the whole thing. So far, it's all working great. Giving it the "weekend test" before sending it back to the record shop owner (where it'll either go up for sale or become one of the shop's spare "backup" units). Not sure if anyone else ever encountered this problem? Or whether they managed to fix it (or replaced the motor). Sure, it's not the turntable I'd keep for myself, yet just the same, it's not bad for someone who wants it for casual listening (or for someone who can't spend megabucks, just to listen to a few records in their collection). It's still good for what it is and definitely better than those junk "all in one" retro systems.

Video game rental firm Gamefly.com's list of the most-wanted games of the week gives us a view into the hidden desires of gamers all over the country. Here are the most requested games for the week ending 3/15/10

Most Popular Games Cross-Platform:

  Rank   Title   Platform(s)   Category   Publisher  

1. God of War III   PS3   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2   PS3, Xbox 360   Shooter   Electronic Arts  
3. Final Fantasy XIII   PS3, Xbox 360   RPG   Square Enix  
4. Just Cause 2   PS3, Xbox 360   Action Adventure   Eidos  
5. Metro 2033   Xbox 360   Shooter   THQ  
6. Heavy Rain   PS3   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
7. Dante's Inferno   PS3, Xbox 360, PSP Games   Action Adventure   Electronic Arts  
8. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction   Xbox 360   Shooter   Ubisoft  
9. BioShock 2   PS3, Xbox 360   Shooter   Take Two  
10. Aliens vs. Predator   PS3, Xbox 360   Shooter   Sega 

Click the "Read More" tag to check out console-by-console lists.

Xbox 360 Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2   Shooter   Electronic Arts  
2. Final Fantasy XIII   RPG   Square Enix  
3. Just Cause 2   Action Adventure   Eidos  
4. Metro 2033   Shooter   THQ  
5. Dante's Inferno   Action Adventure   Electronic Arts  
6. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction   Shooter   Ubisoft  
7. BioShock 2   Shooter   Take Two  
8. Aliens vs. Predator   Shooter   Sega  
9. Mass Effect 2   RPG   Electronic Arts  
10. Halo: Reach   Shooter   Microsoft 

PlayStation 3 Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. God of War III   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
2. Final Fantasy XIII   RPG   Square Enix  
3. Heavy Rain   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2   Shooter   Electronic Arts  
5. Dante's Inferno Divine Edition   Action Adventure   Electronic Arts  
6. Just Cause 2   Action Adventure   Eidos  
7. Yakuza 3   Action Adventure   Sega  
8. Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City   Action Adventure   Take Two  
9. MLB '10: The Show   Sports   Sony Computer Entertainment  
10. Resonance of Fate   RPG   Sega 

Nintendo Wii Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. New Super Mario Bros. Wii   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
2. Red Steel 2   Fighting   Ubisoft  
3. Alice in Wonderland   Kids/Family   Disney Interactive  
4. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games   Sports   Sega  
5. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing   Racing   Sega  
6. Racquet Sports   Sports   Ubisoft  
7. Super Mario Galaxy 2   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
8. Super Mario Galaxy   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
9. Wii Sports Resort   Sports   Nintendo  
10. Mario Kart Wii   Racing   Nintendo 

PlayStation 2 Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. God of War II   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
2. God of War   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
3. Shadow of the Colossus   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
4. MLB '10: The Show   Sports   Sony Computer Entertainment  
5. Kingdom Hearts: Re-Chain of Memories   RPG   Square Enix  
6. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories   Action Adventure   Konami  
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas   Action Adventure   Take Two  
8. Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love   RPG   Koei  
9. KillZone   Shooter   Sony Computer Entertainment  
10. Final Fantasy XII   RPG   Square Enix 

Nintendo DS Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. Pokemon SoulSilver   Strategy/Sim   Nintendo  
2. Pokemon HeartGold   Strategy/Sim   Nintendo  
3. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
4. Alice in Wonderland   Kids/Family   Disney Interactive  
5. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks   RPG   Nintendo  
6. New Super Mario Bros.   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
7. Sonic Classic Collection   Action Adventure   Sega  
8. Scribblenauts   Arcade/Puzzle   WB Games  
9. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey   RPG   Atlus  
10. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time   RPG   Nintendo 

PlayStation Portable Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. Dante's Inferno   Action Adventure   Electronic Arts  
2. Little Big Planet   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
3. Lunar: Silver Star Harmony   RPG   Xseed Games  
4. Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines   Action Adventure   Ubisoft  
5. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3   Shooter   Sony Computer Entertainment  
6. Mimana: Iyar Chronicles   RPG   Aksys  
7. Dissidia: Final Fantasy   RPG   Square Enix  
8. God of War: Chains of Olympus   Action Adventure   Sony Computer Entertainment  
9. Dead or Alive Paradise   Action Adventure   Koei  
10. MLB '10: The Show   Sports   Sony Computer Entertainment 

Xbox Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. Halo 2   Shooter   Microsoft  
2. Halo   Shooter   Microsoft  
3. Star Wars: Republic Commando   Shooter   LucasArts  
4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 2nd Edition   Action Adventure   Take Two  
5. Star Wars: Battlefront II   Action Adventure   LucasArts  
6. Fable   RPG   Microsoft  
7. The Sims 2   Strategy/Sim   Electronic Arts  
8. Family Guy - Video Game!   Action Adventure   Take Two  
9. Psychonauts   Action Adventure   Majesco  
10. Doom 3   Shooter   Activision 

GameCube Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition   RPG   Nintendo  
2. Mario Kart: Double Dash   Racing   Nintendo  
3. Super Mario Sunshine   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
4. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
5. Super Smash Bros. Melee   Fighting   Nintendo  
6. Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
7. Luigi's Mansion   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
8. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
9. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
10. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem   Action Adventure   Nintendo 

Game Boy Advance Most Popular Games:

  Rank   Title   Category   Publisher  

1. Pokemon Emerald   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
2. Pokemon: Sapphire   RPG   Nintendo  
3. Pokemon Fire Red   Strategy/Sim   Nintendo  
4. Pokemon Leaf Green   Strategy/Sim   Nintendo  
5. Super Mario World: Advance 2   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
6. Final Fantasy VI Advance   RPG   Nintendo  
7. Super Mario Advance 4   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
8. Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap   RPG   Nintendo  
9. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past   Action Adventure   Nintendo  
10. Metroid: Zero Mission   Action Adventure   Nintendo 

 

L-R: Stephanie Young, Taylor Brady, Samantha Giles & Lasana M. Sekou

Lasana M. Sekou
at Mills & Small Press Traffic

Sekou’s collections of short stories

Douglas Barbour @ 70

The Texas Textbook Massacre

The Flashpoint David Jones issue is awesome!

Curtis Faville:
Editing Eigner’s Collected
(Part 1) (Part 2)

A gathering of responses to Larry Eigner

Tottel’s 15: Larry Eigner Issue

Steve Fama on the issue of margins

Melville at the margins

Maxine Cassin has died

Barry Schwabsky on the Selected Poems of Samuel Beckett

Vincent Katz: Editing Vanitas

Talking with Tina Chang

Kay Ryan at Stanford

Carol Ann Duffy works with teens

Bob Arnold: “Hiking Down From a Hillside Sky”

Talking with Bob Arnold

Historic Fort Atkinson & Lorine Faith Niedecker

Freedom’s Orator

A crowd-sourced online biography of Gregory Corso

Closing your eyes to “The Red Wheelbarrow”

Gian Lombardo on Rae Armantrout & Keith Waldrop

One critic who picked
the NBCC award for poetry right
was Raquel Laneri at Forbes

The writer at the Guardian
appears to have actually looked at Armantrout’s book

The Wall Street Journal notes Armantrout’s surprise
& that half the winners came from the UK

The infiltrator

All hail
from Wesleyan University as well as UCSD

PennSound is happy (scroll to March 12)

But one finalist sparked protests

Pam Brown:
Rewriting Australia,
with Michael Farrell, David Brooks, Justin Clemens,
Duncan Hose, Banjo Paterson, John Tranter & David Prater

Lara Glenum & Joseph Horáček:
Meat Out of the Eater

Amazon plays hardball over Colorado taxes

The Best Translated Book Prizes

The winner for poetry is
Elaina Fanalova’s The Russian Version,
translated by Stephanie Sandler & Genya Turovskya

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist

A benefit reading in LA
for Al Mutanabbi Street

Eliot Weinberger’s Oranges & Peanuts for Sale

After the “last avant-garde”

Talking with Gary Snyder

Snyder in Action to accept the Creeley Prize

Pantano’s Collected Trakl
will be over 1,000 pages

Borges:
“If only Lowell kept his trousers on”

Lynn Levin’s Fair Creatures of an Hour

The Unbearables

Iliad bookshop’s impressive odyssey

David Foster Wallace
doodles on Cormac McCarthy’s face

The David Foster Wallace audio project

Politics, Ethics & the New Formalisms

Sumerian poetry, Sumerian beer

119 words
WGN staffers
are not permitted to use on-air

Kyle Schlesinger:
“Bad Words to the Radio”

Harry E Northup, baseball poet

The house that Al Purdy built

Ed Markowski’s A Chinese Box

Burma Shave poetics reaches the PMLA

Luc Sante on David Shields’ Reality Hunger: A Manifesto

Stephen Mills on Juliana Spahr,
C.D. Wright, Tony Hoagland & Martha Collins

Is sci-fi humanism
a contradiction in terms?

Talking with Sharon Dolin

Anthologize this

Ken Irby reads from The Intent On

Fred Moten, Catherine Wagner, George Tysh

Pleasuredome for sale: £8.75M

Does a room really help?

A curious tale,
none of which appears to be fact-based

William Blake & the Naked Tea Party

Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask

Extending the book (a.k.a. “Grangerizing”)

April 18:
2010 Marin Poetry Festival

Paula Cisewski, Brenda Ijima, Sandy Florian, Lara Glenum,
Johannes Göransson, Dawn Lundy Martin, Laura Moriarty,
Abe Smith & Stacy Szymaszek
will be featured readers at this year’s
AWP Off-Site Reading
Saturday, May 8, in Denver

A webinar on Emily D,
with Al Filreis & Jessica Lowenthal

Sal Paradise & a tale of two cities

Allen Ginsberg @ 43
as viewed by Time

Top 40 “Bad Books”

And what it all means

Iris Murdoch’s 30-year affair

Poems from the 4 finalists
of the 2009 Omnidawn Book Prize

Joan Houlihan’s The Us

The Alzheimer’s Poetry Project

Tony Hoagland’s Unincorporated Persons
in the Late Honda Dynasty

Writers: take back the power!

Google gets Italy to blink

Bookstore turns publisher
to help save print

A shocking plan to destroy publishing forever:
read the books you already have!

Amazon.com removes “buy buttons”
from some comic publishers

Canadian bookstores organize
to keep Amazon out

Apple goes for publishers,
Amazon cozies up to literary agents

Why are publishers at SXSW Interactive?

ebooks in libraries is a problem
sez Macmillan CEO

The case for ebooks is ecological

Is Penguin’s new ebook a book?

Is your reading suffering
from multimedia overload?

Academic publishers
see strong ebook growth

Here comes the Samsung E60

The best & worst of times for publishing

Publishers are “only innovative when desperate”

Poetry & scary baby trading cards

Night of the Living Trekkies

Amis’ Ballard

Don DeLillo’s Point Omega

Kenneth Dover has died

A competition for young poets

Dave Eggers, “America’s Conscience”

When the pols are semi-literate at best

Ten talky novels

Mark Twain, character assassin

KAfKA in Neukölln

100+ literary festivals in the UK
of which the London Word is one

Pulling a Roth

“Roth, Pinter, Berlin and Me”

Louis Menand’s Marketplace of Ideas

Memo to Maxwell: Read Balzac

Why Sherlock Holmes beats CSI

Jim Harrison:
“The last word in lonesome is me”

What writers can learn from Gawker

2 typologies of blog notes

Good faith in publishing

Who wrote the book on texting?

Shakespearean insult generator

Henri Cole’s Pierce the Skin

Everyone knows
that Kent Johnson wrote Shakespeare

Automatic Screw Machine Products

Jewish Narnia is call Marvel Comics

Remembering Kate Carew

What is that butterfly
in the New Yorker?

The Waterboys do Yeats

Constantine Cavafy singing Van Morrison

Poems & the movies

The great James Castle in the Bay Area

William T. Wiley:
messenger of many truths

Barry Schwabsky on the Black Atlantic

SFMoMA as seen from Brooklyn:
“the best show I’ve ever seen”

Revising Rothko

Major works by 10 abstract expressionist painters
for under $5

Talking with Leonard Lopate

Warhol’s portraits of Jews

The inverse of ekphrasis

NYRB & Daniel Mendelsohn
finally get to Avatar

The Swedish invasion

Why Coco Chanel?

Surreal muse

“Hello, Dalai”

Faye’s Heidegger

Tony Judt on “edge people”

Plant TV

Tom Clark: Playing possum

This October, Woodworking in America will be held in our backyard here in Cincinnati from Oct. 1-3. Registration will open in early May, and we'll start telling you all about the instructors and 80 sessions as soon as we get all the contracts signed.

But there is one aspect of planning this conference that I could use your help with. For this conference, we're planning some extra evening events. And I'd like some advice from you about which ones you think are most interesting. Read these short descriptions then click on the ones you like the best using the polling widget below.

Thanks in advance for your help.

'Toolmakers' Dinner' at the Popular Woodworking Magazine shop
When: The Thursday evening before Woodworking in America
Where: Our offices and workshop in suburban Cincinnati
Details: A lot of toolmakers will be unveiling new products at this conference, so we thought it would be a fun evening to invite all the toolmakers to a dinner at our headquarters plus as many attendees as we could fit. We'd provide dinner that would give you a taste of local food (LaRosa's pizza, Skyline chili, Graeter's ice cream), plus a few local malted beverages for you to try. You'd get to tour the shop, see the newest tools before everyone else and get to chat up the toolmakers.

'The Feast of Andre Roubo' with Roy Underhill and Don Williams
When: Saturday evening
Where: A restaurant near the conference
Details: Don Williams and a team of scholars are in the middle of an historic task: translating A.J. Roubo's 18th-century masterwork "L’Art du Menuisier." Williams will present – for the first time in public – some of the very cool things he's learned about early workshop practice during this project. (And if you saw Williams at the conference last year, you know he's an amazing speaker.) Also, Roy Underhill – who reads Roubo in the original French – will share some of the fascinating details he has unearthed about the man.

'Covington Pub Crawl' with the Popular Woodworking Magazine Editors
When: Friday evening (after the keynote dinner)
Where: Covington's Main Strasse
Details: Find out just how well Megan Fitzpatrick holds her liquor (here's a tip: she's tipsy when she starts using big words in a Southern accent). Our editors lead you on a trip down Covington's Main Strasse, a nicely restored 19th-century street just a couple block from the conference. Chat woodworking as you sample beers from some of our favorite German beer gardens and the Cock & Bull English pub (which has the best fish and chips in town). There's no formal program – just a casual evening with a bunch of fellow woodworkers.

'Make this Tool, Please' – Lunch with Manufacturers
When: Saturday at noon
Where: a room at the conference center
Details: One of the biggest frustrations many woodworkers have is that many tools they want are not made anymore. Who makes a decent folding rule anymore? At this special lunch, you can bring your wish list of tools, which we'll present to many of the leading hand-tool manufacturers around today. They'll let you know why they tool isn't being made (maybe they don't think there is a market, or materials are too expensive, or they never thought of it). And perhaps – just perhaps – you'll inspire them to make the tool of your dreams.

'Woodworking Night at Molly Malone's'
When: Saturday evening
Where: Molly Malone's Irish pub, a block from the conference
Details: We take over a floor of Molly Malone's, an Irish pub and restaurant that's a short walk from the conference. In addition to hanging out with the editors, toolmakers and other attendees, we'll arrange for some traditional woodworking music – yes, you guessed it – musical saws.

'White Water Shaker Village' a Personalized Tour
When: Sunday morning
Where: White Water Shaker Village (bus transportation provided)
During the last year, Popular Woodworking Magazine has become involved with the restoration efforts at the White Water Shaker Village, a beautiful group of original buildings still in their original setting. The village isn't open to the public, but we have arranged to get you special access to the village with guides who are restoring the village's Meeting House. Get a close look at Shaker craftsmanship – from the toolmarks to the cut nails. See some of the original furniture pieces in the collection, and get a privileged look at this amazingly untouched gem.

— Christopher Schwarz

Almost 20 years ago, as a young editor at The Public Interest, I wrote an admiring review of The American Reader, an anthology compiled by Diane Ravitch. At the time, a battle was raging over multicultural education, and Ravitch joined the fray with a wonderful collection of speeches, songs, essays, and poems spanning the nation’s history. She had a philosophical goal--setting forth a positive version of multiculturalist history that emphasized pluralism rather than identity politics--and also a practical one--creating a content-rich textbook that wasn’t, like so many others, homogenized and excruciatingly boring.

Today, Ravitch tells us in The Death and Life of the Great American School System that she still has a keen desire for students to be taught a rich curriculum in a variety of subjects. And who could disagree? But Ravitch then links this belief with her contention that the two central philosophies guiding today’s bipartisan reform movement--test-based accountability and school choice, both of which she used to embrace--have undermined teaching, learning, and content. It's here that her argument falters.

Indeed, while her closely argued polemic offers some useful insights into the inadequacies of many reform efforts to date, ultimately, she doesn’t deliver the goods. Ravitch fails to make the case that the broad philosophies governing today’s reform movement are off-target.

 

Perhaps most striking to me as I read Death and Life was Ravitch’s odd aversion to, even contempt for, market economics and business as they relate to education. She writes repeatedly, in withering terms of “corporate style superintendents,” the “tycoons and politicians” driving wrongheaded reform efforts, the “managerial mindset” behind experiments with value-added assessment for teachers, and the hopeless inapplicability of such business terminology as “return on investment” for foundations seeking to gauge the educational results of their grant-making. Decrying the “unfettered market” (cautionary tale: Wal-Mart!), she claims that “the problem with the marketplace is that it dissolves communities and replaces them with consumers.” Her populist ire is such that one almost expects her to announce that she will be spearheading a new Educational Tea Party movement. 

Ravitch's rhetoric is so overblown that it doesn’t seem in keeping with her record of analytical gravitas. Who says markets are antithetical to community? Democratic capitalism in the United States, after all, has generally coexisted quite nicely with thriving communities. Moreover, who is to say that businesses and foundations (sorry, make that “mega-rich foundations”) shouldn’t participate in school reform? Are they not part of the civic fabric that Ravitch so commendably wants to nurture?

As for her claim that entrepreneurs see charter schools “as a gateway to the vast riches of the education industry,” that hardly jibes with reality at the most admired charter organizations. As far as I know, nobody at Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, or KIPP, all non-profits, is getting rich from those organizations’ notably successful efforts to help low-income kids learn. But if--if--for-profit charter operators are able to operate good schools, why shouldn’t those educational entrepreneurs get rich? Isn’t the point to make sure kids learn? It is not as if profit is an alien notion in the world of public schools. As Ravitch knows well, a vast industry of contractors, curriculum specialists, and the like was getting rich off public schools long before charters came along. (Ravitch also missed important aspects of the charter movement: its relentless self-examination, eagerness to weed out poor performers, and desire to take to scale those approaches that are really helping kids.)

It is easy to get the impression when reading Death and Life that we had a system of public schools that was doing pretty well until evil corporate titans and their politician henchmen rolled into town to break up neighborhoods, victimize children, and destroy America’s common culture. This just isn’t the case. (And, when assessing who's done damage to education, Ravitch seems uncharacteristically naïve when dismissing teachers' unions' negative effects on schools.) Test-based accountability and choice came in response to a real sense of urgency about American students’ lackluster academic achievement. Nelson Smith of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says Ravitch is viewing the neighborhood schools she reveres through “a rose-tinged rear-view mirror." 

Ravitch sprinkles a range of “to be sures” throughout the book--yes, testing can be useful if it isn’t relied upon for onerous accountability penalties; yes, some charter schools have been remarkably succcessful--but she still rejects practically the entire enterprise of test-based accountability and choice. Instead, she says she'd like to see “a substantive national curriculum” covering the full range of subjects. But, while “end it, don’t mend it” seems to be Ravitch’s approach to the reform consensus, couldn’t one take the opposite tack and try to improve today’s top-down and bottom-up strategies rather than abandon them altogether?

Like other critics of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Ravitch overstates the extent to which test prep crowds out all other subjects, even in the troubled urban schools whose students are furthest behind. Even if core skills do receive disproportionate attention at disadvantaged schools, one can make the case that this isn’t crazy: Ravitch herself acknowledges that reading, writing, and math are the building blocks for all other learning. Surely it would be possible to come up with an accountability regime that makes sure kids know the basics, exposes them to a broader range of subjects, and improves on the NCLB model, including removing perverse incentives for states to dumb down their standards.

When it comes to more advanced skills, we already have evidence that test-based accountability, with high stakes, can mix well with the kind of rigor Ravitch seeks. She praises Massachusetts for its excellent curriculum in all subjects and its high performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Last week, Steven Wilson, president of Ascend Learning, asked Ravitch at an American Enterprise Institute forum why Massachusetts shouldn’t be held up as an example for other states to follow. Ravitch said that she is not against accountability, but that Massachusetts is not typical because it has avoided using accountability in a “punitive fashion," instead employing it “in a way that lifts up the performance of students.”

In fact, Massachusetts employs just the kind of big, punitive stick that Ravitch deplores. I happened to be sitting next to Abigail Thernstrom, who was an architect of the standards and accountability regime during her eleven years on the Massachusetts board of education. She explained that, under the framework the board created, students couldn’t graduate from high school without passing the state exams. Moreover, she said, “urban superintendents were totally with us because our emphasis on test results forced teachers to actually teach instead of running videos to eat up the time.”

The Massachusetts standards, it should be noted, are also a requirement for charter schools--charters just have more flexibility in how they prepare students to reach those standards. This arrangement seems to be a great illustration of how choice and accountability can work in tandem. Elected officials (or appointees of elected officials) can create learning standards that, in turn, guide curriculum at the school level. Students’ progress in meeting these standards can then be measured by periodic tests. Both regular public schools and charters (which, of course, are also public schools, although Ravitch won’t say as much) must strive to meet these outcome measures.

 

Despite the imperfections of current reforms, it seems perfectly reasonable, then, to conclude that markets can be harnessed to achieve what society has determined are important learning outcomes for children. Ravitch makes a great case for national standards. If political obstacles could ever be overcome (the emerging state-driven common standards seem like a promising start) one could imagine fabulous nationwide tests written by content guru and Ravitch ally E.D. Hirsch. 

But why should students be prepared for these exams only in the conventional neighborhood schools that Ravitch so admires? Both charters and other public schools could be granted flexibility to find the best way to help their students succeed. Thus, choice, accountability, and serious content could happily coexist.

Ben Wildavsky is a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reinventing the World, forthcoming in May from Princeton University Press.

RELATED

By Diane Ravitch: The country's love affair with standardized testing and charter schools is ruining American education.

By Richard Rothstein: Ravitch’s recent ‘conversion’ is actually a return to her core values.

DS, Sega, cert U

Spiky blue hedgehog, notable for a turn of speed absent from his real-world cousins; collects rings and saves woodland creatures from balding maniac Dr Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.

The story so far Sega launched its rival to Mario, Nintendo's platforming colossus, almost 20 years ago. Going on to become the company's mascot, Sonic first wagged a gloved finger at owners of the Mega Drive system in 1991, and the franchise has since sold 70m units.

Hitting the skids Since the late 90s, Sonic has been trading off past glories, his 3D adventures markedly less successful than his early work in two dimensions. He has also picked up an array of irritating sidekicks, the worst being the despised Big the Cat.

Back from the brink The DS's Sonic Rush (2005) and its sequel briefly made Sonic feel relevant once more. But 2006's awful 15th anniversary title, simply named Sonic the Hedgehog, is a career nadir.

Greatest hits The Sonic Classic Collection sees four of Sonic's best games (basically, the first four) squashed on to one DS cartridge – and they are squashed, the DS's screens being the wrong resolution for these classics. Otherwise they've aged surprisingly well, with Sonic 3 perhaps the best exponent of the series's fast-paced platform action.

Lock and load As a bonus, the collection allows players to use Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 2 and 3 without having to "lock" one game cartridge into the other to access this content, as original MD owners had to.

The First Edition of  the Carnival of Genealogical Societies - Doin' Things Right has been posted by Kathryn Doyle at California Genealogical Society and Library. A very nice first edition! The topic for the next edition is Collaboration.

As usual, Randy Seaver had a great list of the Best of the Genea-Blogs at Genea-Musings including several items I had missed.

John Newmark's Weekly Genealogy Picks at TransylvanianDutch highlighted several posts that I never would have seen otherwise.

At The Ancestry Insider you'll find the latest edition of Insider Ketchup for 12 March 2010.



It seems like everyone wrote about Who Do You Think You Are? last week. Some were critical but for the most part the show seemed to be well received. I enjoyed the show and had an OMG moment at the end when she brushed the show off of Mary Easty's memorial. My favorite review of the show was written by Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems News.

At Kimberly's Genealogy Blog, Kimberly Powell was able to track down some of the documents mentioned in the episode and you'll never guess where she found them! Small Nuggets - The Death of Gold Prospector John S. Hodge.

JamaGenie also wrote about WDYTYA at Saturdays Child and followed up with an interesting theory of why the Salem witch accusations started and ended.

T.K. shares A Few Thoughts on Standards at Before My Time and has created a poll to see what you think.

Lisa's, On babies and transatlantic crossings, at 100 Years in America was originally posted in 2008 and I thoroughly enjoyed rereading it!

I'm certain that Donna Pointkouski and I do not have the same mother but we do do have very similar memories! Check out The Address Book at What's Past is Prologue.

At The Family Curator, Denise Levenick brought back many memories for me with On My Honor, We Were Girl Scouts  When Scouting Wasn't Cool.

I have a couple of cabinet makers in my tree so I found footnoteMaven's March History Hare article, "Cabinet Maker - Undertaker" at the Graveyard Rabbit Online Journal very interesting.

I'm still waiting to see grass in my yard but Tipper is already Planting By The Signs For March 2010 at Blind Pig & The Acorn.

At Gen Journey, T Pratt is sharing a collection of letters and the history behind them.

Cat shared the story of her grandmother, Women's History Month - Just Like Me at Diggin up Dirt.

Joan Hill shared My Religious Melting Pot at Roots'n'Leaves. "The path at times frightening, torturous, and funny, but now tantalizingly simple --- sometimes punctuated with a chant and a shuffle."

At Crooked Lake Review, Dick Palmer shared an old newspaper article, Good Season on The Canal - 1906. The mention of families living on their boats was very interesting to me.



Hat tip to Cindi Howells of Cindi's list for pointing me to ProGenealogists article, Sarah Jessica Parker on "Who Do You Think You Are? Natalie Cottrill offers some insight about the research process that went into making the first episode of WDYTYA and then focuses on one document. I could not find a feed for ProGenealogists but they do have a fan page on Facebook.

Skip, who is an administrator at Unclaimed Persons, shared a link to a song by an old friend of hers, Wayne Renn, called Maple Street. Not only did I enjoy the music and lyrics but the pictures used for the video were very moving.

Via Megan Smolenyak's Fan Page I found a link to Oprah's pages for WDYTYA. From what I read about Emmitt Smith's episode I think it will be a good one.



Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings: First Look at New FootNote Viewer

Thomas MacEntee at GeneaBloggers: QR Codes and Genealogy Part 1; Part 2: Resources for Linking

The Blogger Template Designer at Blogger in Draft


Denise at Family Matters: WeRelate Tip: Use Your Profile to Bookmark Your Pages




My Week

I have struggled with my COG submission and I don't know why. With the deadline looming I have anxiously been checking to see how many submissions have been made. My series on Sarah Ann will conclude tomorrow, just in time to meet the deadline - I just have to finish writing it! I've known for months that what the topic for this edition would be and who I'd write about and for the life of me I don't know why I put it off or why I'm finding it hard to write.

I spent a couple of hours poking around my Turner line without really accomplishing much.

Not a great week genealogy wise!

Interview by Jenny Desmond Walters for SCBWI Bologna 2010

Kendra, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions in preparation for the upcoming 2010 SCBWI Bologna Symposium. I'm sure everyone is eager to read more about your agency, so let's jump right in to some questions.

You started the BookStop Literary Agency in 1984. What was the path that led you to become an agent, and also, what prompted you to open your own literary agency?

My agency morphed from a book-fair company I started when we lived in Mexico during the late 1970s to serve the numerous English speakers and learners who needed English language books to read and cement the English language skills they'd learned in school.

There were no children's bookstores in Mexico. BookStop, my company, set up book fairs in the various bilingual schools around the city and sold books directly to the kids in the schools.

I ordered the books I knew would succeed, given my elementary teaching experience and knowledge of kids. I had contact with literally thousands of kids each year and learned which books caught their interest.

My business was a success, but in 1983, we left Mexico and landed in a suburb of San Francisco. I decided not to continue the company I'd started because the same "book-less" conditions didn't exist in the U.S. Scholastic Book Fairs were well entrenched.

So, after two years of trying to volunteer in the schools where I was invited to stuff envelopes, my friends suggested to me that I go into real estate since I was so good at connecting people and houses.

Well, not real estate, I said, but I could be a literary agent connecting manuscripts and book publishers. I already knew many editors and publishers from my book-fair business, and I knew kids both from my teaching days and from my book-fair days.

I was pretty sure I knew a good book when I saw one since my book tastes had already been tested when I was buying for my book-fair business.

I started my agency the day I made the decision so many years ago, and I haven't regretted it for a minute. When I needed to learn about new books, I traveled to New York where I met with editors who told me what new books they were excited about.

It took a year to sell the first manuscript, and my business has grown significantly since then. Last year I took on an associate, Minju Chang, who works with me to get the best in children’s and young adult literature into the market.

Publishers Marketplace lists a nice collection of recent sales and forthcoming books from BookStop. What are some of the titles that you’re especially excited about this year?

You're asking which of my children I like the best this year, and that is a tough question.

Here’s a sampling of some “BookStop” books that will release in 2010:

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (Philomel);

Mimi's Dada Catifesto by Shelley Jackson (Clarion);

The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Scholastic);

Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer (Zondervan).

In your opinion, what qualities make for a successful children's picture book?

Of course a good story with an unpredictable or simply delicious ending is paramount. Beyond that, a good picture book (or even novel, for that matter) needs well developed characters who drive a plot that makes me turn the pages.

In a picture book, I am eager to read a fresh approach to any of the myriad of familiar topics that kids can relate to–early concepts, daily life, siblings, family, friends, or even aliens. I love quirky and well-developed characters in any book, but especially in a picture book. We would never reject a great manuscript.

I also like to work with books that tell a socially important or interesting story, despite the fact that they may not experience great sales.

Kids love to learn about the world around them, and I feel there is a need for good nonfiction that teaches a subject in a non-didactic way.

Unfortunately, at the moment nonfiction is difficult to sell. Sometimes there is something magical and undefinable where the words and the pictures combine to create something above and beyond either the illustrations or the text on their own. This makes the odd equation of one plus one equals three!

Are you currently accepting submissions from writers and illustrators, and if so, do you have any specific tips or suggestions as to how they might best approach your agency?

Both my associate, Minju Chang, and I are actively seeking new talent. We work closely together so it doesn’t matter to whom you submit your work. We accept submissions from writers and illustrators for kids from age 0 to 16 years old.

Minju is especially skilled at working with authors who write at the upper end of that spectrum, and I can’t pass up a good picture book. We both work with illustrators.

You can find our submission guidelines at www.bookstopliterary.com. We prefer a query letter with a manuscript. If you send your manuscript through the mail, please make sure to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope or mailer so we can respond (and return your manuscript if you want it back). With email submissions, send first 10 pages pasted into body of email. Please do not send a query letter without the manuscript. We like to see what you write immediately.

Read our bios to get a sense of what we like. In short, we love humor and strong stories with strong and well-developed characters.

How long does it usually take for your agency to respond to a query and manuscript submission, and how many submissions do you typically receive in a given month?

We receive hundreds of submissions a month—anywhere from 200 to 300. Certain times of the year (holiday season), we're going to be slower, but we try to respond within four-to-six weeks. Usually it's two to three.

As an agency that represents both writers and illustrators, what are some of the different strategies you must employ to support these different types of clients throughout their career?

Every client has different needs and different skills.

With illustrators, we are constantly on the lookout for manuscripts that might fit their styles. We are pretty good at matching writers and illustrators, so when we hear an editor is looking for an illustrator, we try to find out about the text, to see if we might have an appropriate illustrator on board. Sometimes we'll send a manuscript in with illustrator suggestions to give an editor an idea of a style of illustration that might work.

With writers, we try to think about what sort of illustration goes with the manuscript and offer that as a suggestion to an editor who may be on the fence. With writers, we also have to keep our eye on what the next book might be because we understand that a publishing house is most interested if they can count on the fact that the author has more than one book in their mind.

In an article in Publishers Weekly, Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody books and also one of your clients, talked about how she shared a series of short “Judy Moody” vignettes with you and that you led her to the brilliant idea of combining them together into the first Judy Moody short novel.

Can you give us some examples of other recommendations you might make to clients after they submit a project to you?

It's difficult to say because this depends so much on the manuscript. We enjoy the editorial process, and if we think you’ve got a good strong character, we're more than happy to work with you to integrate that character into an equally strong plot.


Judy Moody was a great character to start with, and Megan found she could put her into almost any situation. It was the editor who led Megan to the short-novel format for Judy Moody.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Ryan started as a picture book. We kept trying different formats until someone suggested making it a novel.

Although Pam had never written a novel before, she took the suggestion and ran with it. It is clear the novel format gave her the space she needed to tell the story.

Sometimes our job is only a matter of figuring out what works in a story and what isn't quite working. Lack of tension? Episodic structure? Stagnant relationship? Undeveloped character. We know that the character needs to come first.

Some of your best known projects include Esperanza Rising, the Judy Moody book series, and the Froggy picture book series illustrations.

Can you tell us the story behind how you found, offered representation to, and then sold the work of one or more of these clients?

My clients typically find me. The three cases you mention above are representative. In one case, the author found me in a writer's handbook. In another, I was recommended by the author's editor, and in another, I was recommended by a friend of the author.

There is no single road to meeting the right agent. Sometimes authors hear of me from several different sources and tell me that, after the fourth person recommended us, they had to contact us. We are very open to reading manuscripts from first-time writers. We are as eager to start careers as we are to take on already established careers.

What aspects need to be considered about a book before an agent presents it to a publisher?

We want to be able to identify what makes this book stand out. What makes it different from comparable titles? Is there a large enough target audience to ensure the book’s success? And we need to really be its advocate.

We need to think about how we could pitch the book to a child and how that child might react to the book. How will the editor pitch this to their editorial and sales team? How will the publishers pitch this to kids? Does the subject matter fit into the curriculum (school sales and library sales are critical to a book's success). Is this a new take on a perennially favorite subject that can never go out of favor?

And, these are questions we also ask ourselves when we're reading each submission.

You served as a featured panelist at the Stanford Publishing Courses Writers Workshop in July 2009. What can you tell us about your experience there last year?

It was a very exciting couple of days where the participants learned everything from writing skills to publicity and how to actually manage social media. I was on a panel of agents talking about the ever-changing market in children’s books. Since the focus was not only children’s books, I was able to attend more general sessions and learn from well-known adult writers. Such conferences are invaluable for writers who want to get to know all phases of the business.

Unfortunately, the course has been suspended for the foreseeable future.

What kinds of things do you like to see new or unpublished authors or illustrators doing to promote themselves at the start of their careers?

They should be able to help with the publicity of their books. Today that includes being able to use the usual social networking tools – facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, blogs, etc. It is clear that the publishers are scaling back their publicity efforts and expecting authors to take up the slack. Authors who are really "out there" seem to enjoy better sales, and their publishers notice!

One of our clients, with a book about a dog, has become a one-woman marketing machine although she didn't start out that way. She’s worked relentlessly pursuing every single possible lead or tangent related to dogs, and it's paying off with good blurbs from a variety of organizations. We so appreciate her tenacity and hard work.

Seeing our clients work so hard makes us want to work that much harder to support their efforts.

It's important to remember that publicity doesn't always have to happen on a large scale. Sometimes it's about pursuing individual contacts one at a time. Another client has a natural gift for charming and talking to almost everyone she passes. She just has charisma, which makes her an extremely successful face-to-face promoter. She never "sells" to people; she's just who she is and people want to know about her. For example, after she just struck up a conversation with a couple of strangers on an airport shuttle, she learned that they later bought six copies of her book! I'll bet they spread the word even farther to their friends and family.

The underlying message is: use your talents and think outside of the box. If you're a video-editing pro, use that. If you're a great public speaker, put yourself out there in schools, stores, conferences, etc. Use your connections, too. If your kids are fabulous at building websites, ask them to do it for you. And also get their feedback on what appeals to kids.

Don't be afraid to be different. We’re always around to help you brainstorm.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and expertise. We're excited about hearing more from you in Bologna!

Cynsational Notes

Kendra Marcus started BookStop Literary Agency in 1984, and since then the agency has grown to be one of the most well known and well respected agencies for children's book writers and illustrators.

Kendra gravitates toward texts and illustrations for quirky and funny picture books. She is also interested in stories with Hispanic or Latino characters and unusual nonfiction and is always thrilled to find unforgettable and vivid voices or stories that will bring her to tears.

Jenny Desmond Walters is the founding regional advisor of the SCBWI Korea chapter. She is an experienced education professional with a love of learning and literature. She has worked in public television developing curriculum and promoting instructional programs, as well as worked extensively with educational publishers and learning materials companies. For the last several years, Jenny has lived in east Asia where she has become an avid writer and observer of life in Japan and Korea. Her articles have been published in national children's magazines and writing journals, and she has been a member of SCBWI for more than 10 years. Jenny currently resides in Seoul with her husband and three daughters, and she rarely runs out of interesting stories to write.

The SCBWI Bologna 2010 interview series is brought to you by the SCBWI Bologna Biennial Conference in conjunction with Cynsations. To register, visit the SCBWI Bologna Biennial Conference 2010. Note: Special thanks to Angela Cerrito for coordinating this series with SCBWI Bologna and Cynsations.

How does Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto explain his Nintendo DS megahit Tomodachi Collection—still a Japan-only release—to the non-Japanese GDC attendee? By putting high-level Nintendo execs in weird Tomodachi Collection situations, including Sakamoto's own virtual crush on Samus Aran. More »

After reinvesting imaginatively, Lyon are looking to break new ground and get past the quarter-finals in the Champions League

Matchday morning in Madrid. The Lyon players are in their team hotel, resting their bodies and preparing their minds for a European adventure that teeters over the precipice. Bernard Lacombe, the club's former striker and modern cheerleader, notices that the players are unusually quiet over their croissants. "As early as breakfast time I felt that they were focused. They were not saying very much. It's not often that they are like this."

A few hours later Lyon's focus was even more extraordinary. Their moment of Champions League deliverance in front of a flabbergasted audience at the Bernabéu was a consequence of an extremely well-executed 180 minutes. Lyon did just about everything right in the first leg – squeezing the flair our of their opponents, guarding a clean sheet and earning a win advantage to carry over to Spain.

But it is what happened at half-time in Madrid that really showed the mettle of Claude Puel's squad. They knew they had been through a storm in the first-half but when they surveyed the damage and saw that there was nothing worse than Cristiano Ronaldo's goal, they were ready to grip the steering wheel and power through the gears. They made two half-time changes – forced by knocks but risky business all the same – pushed 10 yards up the pitch and pressed as boldly as they have ever pressed before. They were tigerish in the tackle and audacious in the attack and put in what L'Equipe could not resist describing as a "galactic" performance.

This what not what Real expected. It was not really what Lyon expected, either. Last year they faced Barcelona at the same stage, drew 1-1 at the Stade Gerland and travelled with a modicum of hope. They were thumped 5‑2 at Camp Nou.

Miralem Pjanic's goal brought one of those moments where real time lurches into slow motion. Can it be? Is this happening? Those feelings were even sharper because of the suspicion that Real would do exactly what they did: throw discipline out of the window, dive preposterously in search of a penalty and kick petulantly because their story had been hijacked. Fifteen minutes is plenty of time for a great side to score twice at home. But hey, maybe this £240m collection is not such a great side.

It is easy to bill the result as a victory for the paupers. In fairness, all clubs look underprivileged compared with Real. But although Lyon have cashed in handsomely on players they developed throughout their period of domestic dominance – Madrid bought two of them in Mahamadou Diarra and Karim Benzema for €26m (£17m) and €30m (£20m) respectively – they are decent spenders by Champions League standards.

In the past couple of years Lyon have spent heartily on Lisandro López (€24m), Michel Bastos (€18m), Aly Cissokho (€15m), César Delgado (€11m). They sell very well, then re-invest imaginatively and the cycle continues. It is a policy that serves them well and an unbeaten period since they returned from their winter break now puts them in position to try to regain the French title as well as break new ground in the Champions League. They have never before been beyond the quarter-finals. As Puel said proudly: "This team is writing its own story."

Little wonder Jean-Michel Aulas, the Lyon president who oversees his project with infinitely more hard-nosed business nous than Florentino Pérez, felt emotional in the Bernabéu. "I shouldn't say so but I did shed a little tear," he confessed. "Now we have crazy dreams in our heads and one is to come back here for the final."

The €8m they spent on Pjanic, the hero of the Bernabéu, already looks like good value. The Bosnian midfielder is only 19 and despite the unenviable task of filling the boots of Lyon's former talisman Juninho Pernambucano, he is doing well enough to suggest he might be involved in another mega-sale in a few years' time. "It was a magic night," said Panjic. "It's enormous."

It is notable that all of the teams through to the last eight so far benefited from away goals. Manchester United gave themselves the platform to rout Milan with three in Italy. Arsenal felt able to overturn their errors in Porto without too much anxiety settling in because they had an away goal of their own from the Estádio do Dragão. Bayern's rally, which was crowned by Arjen Robben's miraculous goal in Florence, proved decisive.

How harsh this exit feels for Fiorentina, the only team knocked out who did score an away goal, and they have the frustration of an illegal goal awarded to Bayern by the referee Tom Henning Ovrebo just to make them feel even worse.

Despite the best efforts of Bayern Munich to win this week's Champions League Oscar for best action, the workaholics from Lyon deservedly stole the show. And that left Real Madrid stuck with the role of drama queens.

Tears of admiration for Haiti's beaten keeper

The courageous tale of the Haiti Under-17s women reached a milestone this week when they became the first sports team from the island to take part in international competition since the earthquake. Against all probability, they took the field in Costa Rica in the opening match of the Concacaf championships for their age-group. Pitted against the USA they lost 9‑0, and at the end of the game their goalkeeper, Alexandra Coby, burst into tears.

The USA keeper, Bryane Heaberlin, ran towards her and embraced her in a tight hug, soon to be followed by all of the opposition team who surrounded Coby in a group hug that lasted almost two minutes. When it broke up, girls from both teams wept.

"I saw her crying and that was pretty hard for me to see," said Heaberlin. "She's a keeper and we have that bond. I knew that she had probably lost people close to her, and when she goes home she might not have anywhere to go. I gave her a big hug and told her she did great. She came to compete in this tournament despite all that she's been through and I have tremendous respect for her."

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana

         Howdy folks, welcome to another Whip It Out Wednesday here at the Gab. Gonna be a whacky weekend with the kid’s birthday party coming up Saturday. On top of that, the brother in law is coming up from North Carolina; gonna stay with us for a couple of days. Not too bad of news, though… it’ll give me an excuse to buy extra beer!

            Big weekend coming up in sports, too. Not only do we get the finals for several big conference tournaments in college basketball, but selection Sunday means it’s time to fill out the brackets. I’m pretty much expecting the same shitty performance I always put in, but hell, half the fun is being wrong 20 or so times, right?

            Couple of teams qualifying for the Madness last night, with North Texas winning the Sun Belt, Butler taking the Horizon league and Oakland University winning the Summit League title. Gotta say I was hoping OU would get bounced by IUPUI. As a former OU student who was rammed in the ass by their piss poor financial aid department, I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to watching them get rolled by 30+ by whatever 1 or 2 seed they end up facing in the first round.

            Outside of college basketball, the biggest news in sports seems to be the flurry of activity that’s taken place since the clock struck midnight on Friday. With no cap, seems a few teams are willing to break out the checkbooks more willy-nilly, with the Bears leading the charge. First they nabbed the biggest name available in Julius Peppers, giving him a deal worth a reported 91 million. They also grabbed Chester Taylor to compliment Matt Forte in the backfield. Good pair of moves for the Monsters of the Midway.

            The other big moves involved trades, with Anquan Boldin going to the Ravens for 3^rd and 4^th round picks. Arizona then sent a 4^th rounder in 2010 and a 7^th rounder in 2011 for Safety Kerry Rhodes to the Jets.

            As for the Lions, a pair of good moves on Friday, bringing DE Kyle Vanden Bosch and WR Nate Burleson into the fold. Vanden Bosch is a guy I really like with a high motor and pass rushing skills. Despite the fact that he’s getting up there in years, he’s still a hell of an upgrade over anybody they had at the position last year. Burleson gives the Lions a solid #2 at wide receiver to line up opposite Calvin Johnson. Not happy with those moves, the Lions also made a trade for DT Corey Williams with Cleveland for their 5^th and 7^th round picks, then sent their second 5^th rounder along with a 6^th rounder to Atlanta for CB Chris Houston. All in all, a nice set of moves for the Lions so far, but their work this offseason is far from done.

            As of right now, the free agent pool is getting a little shallow. Of the available guys I’d love to see them bring in, the first name on the list is Kevin Mawae. The guy is not only a great leader, but he’s a hell of a durable player, and he gives Matt Stafford a solid veteran to learn from. Besides, Dominic Raolia is probably one of the five worst starting centers in the NFL, and would probably fit in better at guard. Aside from getting a veteran to mentor Stafford, I’d say Torry Holt would be a good fit in Detroit. He’s getting up there in age, but would flourish as a #2 or 3 and provide a great mentor for the best player on your roster, Calvin Johnson. Look, I think Megatron has had a hell of a career thus far considering what he’s had to work with, but the closest thing to a mentor he’s had in his time here has been Roy Williams… and that’s not exactly somebody you want your franchise guy modeling his game after. Another guy I’d love to see in Detroit… bring back Mike Furrey! Great community guy and a solid possession receiver, plus he’ll come cheap.

            The other big NFL news this week… Big Ben and his Johnny Appleseed routine; except instead of planting apple seeds he’s raping women. Yeah, the first broad was less believable because of the whole civil suit instead of actually pressing charges, but now we’ve got another alleged victim pointing the finger at Roethlisberger. Sure, it might not be anything; it may have been consensual sex and this broad might be full of shit, too. But regardless of what comes from these charges, you really have to wonder where the hell this guy’s head is at. After the first charges were filed against you in Vegas, you have to finally realize you are a target. I can definitely see another bullshit ‘sex rehab” cop-out at the end of this story; that is, if he doesn’t wind up behind bars instead.

            As for the Tigers, what do they have to do to get away from these phenoms? On Monday, they play the Braves and fall victim to the bat of rookie OF Jason Heyward, who hit a 450 foot shot during the game. Braves pitcher Tim Hudson compares the sound of the ball coming off this kid’s bat to a “30-ot six”. Even Jim Leyland left the game impressed with the young man, saying he’s one of the best young players he’s ever seen, even comparing his pitch selection to that of Albert Pujols. The very next day, the “meat” of their lineup gets schooled by Nats rookie Stephen Strasberg’s 98 MPH heat. Rough couple of days in spring for these cats for sure.

            But they got a piece of good news as far as their AL Central hopes are concerned. Twins closer and registered Tiger-killer Joe Nathan appears to be gone for the year needing Tommy John’s surgery on his right elbow. Gotta say, this bodes well for the Tiger’s chances of winning the division, which will probably again be one of the worst in baseball overall.

            And hey, UConn’s women’s basketball team won it’s 72^nd straight game last night, extending the women’s basketball record they set the night before. But no matter how much ESPiN wants people to pay attention, NOBODY FUCKING CARES. Calling this one of the greatest teams of all time is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. MAYBE they are when it comes to the history of women’s basketball… but that’s kind of like saying the Lakers get to play a collection of the best middle school basketball players 72 straight times. Really, that’s how shitty the competition is for these gals.

            As for the actual interesting story in women’s basketball, how about the ridiculous two game suspension given to Baylor’s Brittney Griner’s sucker punch on a Texas Tech player last week? So just because you’re one of only two women out there anywhere that has dunked a time or two you can assault somebody and just be suspended two games for it? Bullshit. If I thought for a second she actually had some sort of future in sports, I’d be even more upset about this… but the punishment of being WNBA bound is probably bad enough for her. Still, just like I said about LeGarrette Blount, she should not only be suspended longer, she should be in jail for assault. Just because it happens on a basketball court, football field or wherever doesn’t make it okay.

            Well that’s it for me this week folks. I’d like to thank you all for reading and for any comments you leave on the way out. Happy Hump Day folks.

If the House of Annie’s Foodie Gift Guide and Rasa Malaysia’s guide weren’t enough, I give you guides from over 80 different sites, full of gift suggestions for foodies.

Here’s a Gift for You!

1. The Foodie Gift Hunter, based in the UK, is a huge respository of foodie gift finds. You could get lost on that one site alone!
2. Something We Dreamed shares a delicious list of mail-order foods, including a Rebuen sandwich kit from Zingerman’s that Oprah calls “an 11 on a scale of 1-5”.
3. Treehugger.com gives us their list of Green Gifts for Foodies, such as a Lodge cast iron pan that could probably outlive you.
4. Fanny at YummySF.com picked out a list of under $25 gifts, including a 3-tier cooling rack to save you space when you’re baking up a big batch of cookies.
5. Bon Appetit magazine published their list of must-have gifts for foodies. I like the “Space Invaders” ice cube tray :-)
   
   
6. Dine Dish Delish came up with a list of different foodie gift basket ideas that you can put together yourself. I could use one of her “Grillmaster” baskets, actually ;-)
7. The website “Fair Trade the White House” has a huge list of gift suggestions of fair trade products, including fair trade foodie gifts.
8. Delish.com, part of the MSN network, has a list of foodie gifts for under $10. I like the cute farm animal-themed kitchen timers.
9. The Sweet Tidings craft blog gives us her picks from the ETSY.com Home Chef Gift Guide.
10. The Holiday season isn’t just about Christmas. Epicurious.com shows us a list of tasty and kosher gifts for Hanukkah. I know I’d love some lox and bagels from New York!
    
    
11. These aren’t technically holiday gifts, but our readers K&S from “Our Adventures in Japan” showed us some lovely Japanese foodie gifts that they received from a wedding reception.
12. Dig Under Rocks, another craft blog, presents their list of foodie finds from ETSY, all under $40. I’m drooling over that one cookie collection.
13. The New Zealand-based Pretty Clever blog has some pretty clever foodie gifts. The Milly’s Vegetable Twister is totally cool. You have to see it for yourself.
14. Confessions of a Bookworm says don’t buy cheese for a foodie because cheese smells. While I don’t agree about that, I do like her list of non-cheese suggestions, including the Drinking Chocolate set which features no cocoa powder!
15. The UK website Not Delia has their own list of Five Fabulous UK Foodie Gifts.
    
    
16. The blog at Craftzine.com has a baker’s dozen list of affordable or homemade foodie gifts. The chalkboard table cloths are a great idea!
17. The Evergreen Moms list focuses on artisanal products from the Pacific Northwest. Can someone send me the DIY Mozarella and Ricotta kit?
18. L.A. Splash magazine has a tasty list of foodie gifts under $15. Lots of chocolate ideas, including Hot Chocolate on a Stick.
19. Australia-based Lifestyle Flossie, part of the Flossie network, shows off their foodie gift list. I am intrigued by the Wine Finer, which is an all-in-one aerator, filter, pourer, and stopper. Me likes!
20. The site “Creative Christmas Gifts” is all about gift ideas for different intetests, like foodies. What foodie wouldn’t want a deep fat fryer?
    
    
21. The Unconfidential Cook gives us her terrific cookbook recommendations over on the Bookstore People blog. “Lost Deserts” by Gail Monaghan gets a compelling mention.
22. Beth, who Eats, Drinks, and Smiles in Tennessee, passes along her foodie gift ideas. Gimme that Kuhn Ricon Corn Zipper!
23. The Retro-Modern Housewife tells us about her ETSY list of gifts for men, including Foodie Men. I think the Masculine Spice Rack is a great idea, but it should be BIGGER!
24. L.A. Weekly suggests you stay off the road and just order from their list of online specialty foods stores. Zingerman’s is their top pick. I wonder why?
25. Camilla Cheung, writing for the Suite101.com network, offers her list of budget gift ideas for the aspiring chef. The cupcake carrier suggestion – now that’s a great idea!
    
    
26. Raging foodie “Dreaming in Meta” shares her wish list of foodie gifts. They’re mostly cookbooks, but she has a Shun 8” chef’s knife thrown in for good measure.
27. Country Living Magazine gets in on the action with their Farmer’s Market Foodie gift list. How about the “Cast Iron Cookbook”?
28. Check out The Foodie Forkful blog, which is doing a whole 45 days’ worth of foodie gift ideas. Did you know there was a board game called “Foodie Fight”? Someone, bring it over!
29. LSD site (Love, Sex and Dating, not acid!) YourTango.com has a big list of gifts for every type of guy, including the Foodie Guy. I totally endorse getting your guy a smoker!
30. The Chapters chain of Canadian bookstores selected their Top 10 picks of cookbooks for the fab foodie. I think Julie and Julia is a great read.
    
    
31. The “Cooking with Anne” blog has a nice list of holiday gift ideas. I want Nigella to cook for me from her Christmas cookbook!
32. WineCountry.com has a wish list that is guaranteed to please the foodie in your life. I couldn’t agree more about the Silpat baking mats.
33. The CafeMom blog presents their list of gifts under $10. Check out the cute Head Chefs Silicone Turner!
34. Bee and Jai of the fabulous Jugalbandi blog posted their list of gifts for the Foodie, Photographer, and Fitness Freak. I love their list of Japanese knives.
35. Jamie Dougherty, the SF Life Coach on Examiner.com, features food fanatic gift ideas, all made in California by small companies. You HAVE to get the Rancho Gordo heirloom beans.
    
    
36. The Palm Beach Post’s food writer/snob, Charles Passy, gives us his list of Stuff He Likes. The DaysAgo Digital Food Counter is a brilliant stocking stuffer.
37. Inside Jersey Magazine offers some unique foodie products, all from New Jersey-based producers. Nice to know you can get more than M2 plastique from Jersey. (Just kidding!)
38. If you’re in St. Louis, MO, then you ought to look up the St. Louis Today’s list of local foodie gifts. Somebody please send me some salumi! Please!!!
39. Look on My Gourmet Connections for their guide to Great Foodie Gifts under $50. I like the kitchen compost pail made of sustainable bamboo.
40. Mandy in Toronto has Everyday Obsessions, including her favorite foodie suggestions under $50. How about that cute Sur La Table waffle set?
    
    
41. Thomas Richie on the Siouxland Voice blogs his 10 Great Gifts for Foodies. I don’t like his BBQ Fork with Thermometer suggestion, but can’t argue with a KitchenAid.
42. The Constant Chatter site has a Foodie Edition Holiday Gift Guide. It’s an eclectic list, but I agree with their CaliBowls suggestion.
43. Although not specifically a holiday gift guide, Ken’s Wine Guide has a list of highly rated Cabernets, all under $50. Find a deal in the Charles Krug 2006 Cabernet.
44. Single Minded Women’s Food and Wine section came up with their list of foodie gifts. Hey look! Another offer to adopt an olive tree!
45. Did you know there was such a thing as a Disney Food Blog? Check out their list of Disney-themed foodie gifts!
    
    
46. Project Foodie has a great list of foodie gift options. I like the “Wine Wars” game – kinda like Foodie Fight but focused specifically on vino.
47. Judyfoodie from Culinary Escapade has a three-part series on foodie gifts, starting out with gadgets: gadgets, dinner/cookware and appliances. Those Trudeau pot clips are sure to make great stocking stuffers!
48. The Santa Cruz Sentinel came out with their list of foodie gifts, sourced on the California Central Coast. Try some John Kelly Truffle Fudge Bites…mmm…
49. The Guardian newspaper in the UK came out with their foodie wish list chosen by their own writers and editors. One of them even chose a tin of fabulous smoked anchovies! Okay, I’ll go with that.
50. Kerry Lowe of the Nashua Telegraph reveals her list of foodie gifts, broken out by price. I highly recommend getting a digital food scale!
    
    
51. British Columbia-based Kelowna.com published a small list of Foodie Faves. All of them seem to come from one shop – one stop shopping!
52. About.com’s Nutrition Guide Shereen Jegtvig published her terrific Top Ten equipment pics for healthy cooking. It includes items seen on other lists, but also touts the FoodSaver vacuum sealer.
53. The venerable New York Times has 5 separate gift lists created by their own food writers. Check out that Chocolate Wine sauce featured on Florence Fabricant's list!
54. Our good friend Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen came out with a list of food blogger cookbooks that will definitely make great gifts for any season. Of course there's Steamy Kichen and Pioneer Woman, but there are many others that I was not aware of.
55. Delphine Ephemera has a wonderful list of foodie favorites. I’m drooling over the Italian Black Truffle paste.
    
    
56. The folks over at Change.org posted a big list of sustainable producers and products. But they also list of organizations, charities and community service to support as well.
57. The lovely Sarah’s Cucina Bella blog presents her list of favorite gifts for food lovers. I think everything on it would be my favorite too!
58. CNN Money.com came out with a short list of culinary gift ideas. Can’t argue with dry-aged steaks!
59. Epicurious.com shows up with another gift list – this one focusing on edible gifts you can make, or alternatively buy. I wanna try making some chocolate truffles.
60. Gaby from the excellent What’s Gaby Cooking? blog shares her holiday foodie gift guide. I really want that Kitchen Aid Pasta Press!
    
    
61. Maria and Josh from Two Peas and their Pod also put together their great holiday gift list. Everything they list is great, but I most want the Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller attachment. (Hm, I’m detecting a pattern here…)
62. Julie Anne of Peanut Butter and Julie revealed her Favorite Things list. And what is her #1 favorite thing? Her own granola mixes. Cool!
63. I just found out about the site Yummery.com. It is a "shopaholic food fantasy". Every post is a new and interesting foodie item. You could seriously get lost on this site.
64. Kathy over at the fantastic Panini Happy blog has a most excellent list of 10 gift ideas. Of course, there would have to be a panini press in it!
65. Mike and Carol of Everyday Simplicities cooked up their own Top 5 gifts for the home chef. You'll want at least one of everything!
    
    
66. Eric Braun, the beer columnis for the San Antonio Express, pours out his own list of gifts for craft beer makers. First thing on his list? Other peoples' beers.
67. Not to be outdone, A Blog About Beer (seriously, that's the name of the blog) in New England has its own Top 10 Gifts for beer lovers. What's this game called "Cornhole"? Sounds naughty.
68. Watch this video from the Gift Gal on the Today Show for the Hottest Edible Gifts (hottest edible gifts, hottest edible gifts) for the foodie in your life. I want that tea basket!
69. Mainline Magazine presents their list of Tasty and Useful Gifts for Food Lovers. The whiskey stones which chill your premium liquor without diluting it are a great idea.
70. There's an article on Suite101.com by Cherrine Banks aimed specifically at cheese lovers. Everyone who is into cheese should have some proper tools for cutting the cheese.
    
    
71. Blogger Megan from Megan's Cookin' cooked up an extraordinary list of her 10 Favorite Things. I am intrigued by the Smokey Blue Cheese Truffles!
72. There's an ETSY shop called LittleFluffStuff that makes cute felt toys, some of which look good enough to eat. Those felt Shanghai dumplings are wow!
73. Sara Rich, an editor at Dwell.com, shows off her kitchen tools wishlist. I think every kitchen should have a Le Creuset dutch oven.
74. The fun Bay Area blog Blame it On the Food shared their Cheapskate Foodie Gifts for 2009. Everything is under $25 (except for the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook).
75. Uber-cool gadget site Craziest Gadgets unveiled their Gifts for People Who Cook. All of them are awesome, but I am ga-ga over the measuring cup with integrated digital scale. Somebody get me one!
    
    
76. New York-based Wined & Dined compiled a list of their favorite gift ideas, shopping, and events. I like the Party in a Box idea.
77. Another wine blog, Wines Gifts, put together a list of Top Wine Books for Wine and Food Lovers. "The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion" sounds useful.
78. Chef Gusteau and Monsieur Anton over at the Cleveland-based blog "At the Pass" delivered 2 lists: "Shopping Ideas from Chef Gusteau" "Shopping Ideas for the Bar". They may be the best foodie gift lists in all of Cleveland!
79. Fabiana Santana, A Girl Who Eats, stopped eating long enough to write her suggestions for foodie gifts. Hey, waitaminit - it's the same list as the one on Single Minded Women.com! Sneaky.
80. The Fashionable Foodie rolled out its list of Kitchen Gift Ideas. Some very neat ideas, some of which I've seen on other lists. But I TOTALLY want that Mario Batali outdoor brick oven!
    
    
81. Foodie-bia, the foodie surviving in suburbia, pulls out her own foodie gift guide.  The Le Creuset Heart Casserole would make a lovely gift!
82. The Mindful Table blog in Montreal started a series of gift lists, the first of which is a Top 5 Recipe books list.  Get “Whole Grain Baking” by the King Arthur Flour Company.  Read it. Use it.
83. The Delicious Sarah Gim of The Delicious Life gives us her list of 25 Cookbooks from Los Angeles Chefs. She would have done more but then it would have thrown off her grid pattern.  I think I’d eschew Roy Yamaguchi’s books for Nancy Silverton’s.
    

Do you have any more foodie gift guides to add? Leave a comment below and I’ll add it in!

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If you think this list is useful, please share it with your social network friends!

Aloha, Nate

If you don't already have Mega Man 3 on the NES, the Wii Virtual Console or in the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, and if you have a Japanese PSN account, you'll be able to purchase the classic run-and-gun for your PlayStation systems next month.

Capcom announced that the Rockman Complete Works PS1 port of Mega Man 3 will be added to the Japanese PlayStation Store in April. But some Japanese Mega Man 10 buyers will be able to get it early -- Capcom is giving away 50 copies to random PSN users who buy Mega Man 10 in the first two weeks of its availability.

[Via Siliconera]

Mega Man 3 joins Mega Man 10 on PSN in Japan originally appeared on Joystiq Playstation on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Deals today are so good they'll make you feel dirty about saving cash. Top picks are a Dell for super cheap, Mass Effect 2's space opera goes for even less, and free fired shrimp doused in sweet mayo sauce.

Top Deals:
• Get 7 Mac Apps with the Macheist Nanobundle2 for only $19.95 (normally $260)
• Mass Effect 2 (PC) for $29.99 plus free shipping (normally $40.54).
• Coupon for Honey Walnut Shrimp at Panda Express (Mar. 10 ONLY) for $0 (use this form).

Computing and Peripherals:
• Dell March Days of Deals
• Dell Studio XPS 8000 Core i5-750 Desktop + Star Trek Movie & Game for $599 (normally $774)
• 18.4" HP Pavilion dv8t Notebook with Intel Core i7-720QM Processor 1.6GHz for $1177 with free shipping (normally $1450 - use coupon code:SVMC84425).
• 16" Toshiba Satellite A505-S6015 Intel Core i5-430M Dual-Core Laptop (4GB/500GB) for $699.98 plus free shipping (normally $849).
• 15.6" HP Pavilion DV6-2150US Core i3 Laptop with 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM for $599.99 plus free shipping (normally $730 - use this form).
• 15.6" Compaq Presario CQ61 Laptop for $349.99 plus free shipping (normally $439 - use this form).
• 15.6" Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop with Intel Dual Core Processor for $399 plus free shipping (normally $683).
• 15.5" Sony VAIO VPC-EB15FX/WI Core i3 Laptop w/Blu-ray for $699.99 with free shipping (normally $819)
• 14.1" HP dv4i Core i3 Laptop w/Free 512MB Mobility Radeon for $609.99 with free shipping (normally $799.99 - use coupon code SVMC84425)
• 14" Lenovo G450 Laptop for $469 plus free shipping (normally $669 - use coupon code USP2949DX2).
• 13" HP Pavilion dm3 Laptop for $499.99 plus free shipping (normally $650 - use this form).
• 11.6" Lenovo U150 Ultra Portable Core 2 Duo Laptop for $599 plus free shipping (normally $799 - use coupon code USPU1693).
• 10.1" Asus EEE PC 1005HA Intel Atom N270 Netbook (1GB/160GB/Win XP/3-Cell) for $249.99 (normally $299).
• Dell IN1910N 19-Inch Widescreen LCD $99.00 with Free Shipping at Dell Home & Home Office (normally $129).
• Lexmark X7675 Wireless All-in-One Printer for $79.99 plus free shipping (normally $118).
• Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer for $44.24 plus free shipping (normally $65.07).
• OCZ Vertex Series 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC SSD for $70 after $40 rebate (normally $100)
• Korg nanoKEY 25-Key USB Controller Keyboard for $35 (normally $50)
• Apple Magic Mouse for $59.49 (normally $68.95)
• Dell AY410 Multimedia Speaker System for $20 with free shipping (normally $60).
• Iomega Prestige 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive for $129.99 plus free shipping (normally $149.95).
• Seagate FreeAgent Go 880GB Portable External Hard Drive for $119.99 (normally $159).
• Seagate Expansion 750GB Portable External Hard Drive + $20 Newegg Gift Card for $109.99 plus free shipping (normally $169).
• Iomega Prestige 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive for $84.99 plus free shipping (normally $105.39).
• Antec 300 Computer Case for $50</a (normally $70)
• Creative Labs Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB Gaming Headset for $74.99 plus free shipping (normally $90).
• Get 7 Mac Apps with the Macheist Nanobundle2 for only $19.95 (normally $260)

Gaming:
• 15% off any in-stock God of War title @ Gamestop (use coupon code ASHEN).
• XBOX 360 Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Bundle for $399.99 with free Final Fantasy Face Plate
• Xbox 360 Elite Winter console bundle + $50 Amazon gift card + Mass Effect 2 (360) for $328.99 plus free shipping (normally $397).
• Xbox 360 120GB Elite Holiday Bundle w/Lego Batman & Pure for $269.00 plus free shipping (normally $299).
• Tony Hawk: Ride Skateboard Bundle (360) for $69 (normally $90).
• SHIPS TOMORROW - Final Fantasy XIII Game (Xbox 360, PS3) w/ $10 Gift Card $59.96 (normally $69).
• Mass Effect 2 (360) for $39.99 plus free shipping (normally $50.95).
• NCAA Basketball 10 (360/PS3) for $39.99 plus free shipping (normally $47).
• Assassins Creed II (PS3/360) for $36.00 (normally $49.90).
• Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360) for $12 (normally $18)
• Dark Void (360) for $25 plus free shipping (normally $32.92).
• PlayStation 3 Slim 120GB + Controller Charge Cradle + Extra Controller + HD Component Cable for $389.99 plus free shipping (normally $449.99).
• Avatar (PS3) for $29.99 plus free shipping (normally $41.89).
• Folklore (PS3) for $31.99 plus free shipping (normally $49.96).
• Nintendo Wii System Console, Wii Sports Resort & Wii MotionPlus for $199.00 (normally $242).
• Nerf N-Strike Elite Bundle (Wii) for $29.99 plus free shipping (normally $40).
• The Sims 3 + The Sims 3: World Adventures Expansion Pack + The Sims 3: High-End Loft Stuff (PC downloads) for $54.95 (normally $87.88).
• Football Manager 2010 (PC download) for $19.99 (normally $39.95).
• Splinter Cell: Conviction (PC) for $34.90 (normally $47.99).
• Mass Effect 2 (PC) for $29.99 plus free shipping (normally $40.54).
• Supreme Commander 2 with Free $15 Gaming Credit (PC) for $39.99 plus free shipping (normally $62).
• Sony PSP 3000 Core Pack for $149.99 plus free shipping (normally $170).

Home Entertainment:
• 55" Vizio VF551XVT LED-Backlit LCD HDTV (1080p, 240Hz) for $1749.00 plus free shipping (normally $2499).
• 46" SONY BRAVIA KDL-46W5100 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,198.99 plus free shipping (normally $1529).
• 42" Panasonic Viera TC-P42U1 1080P Widescreen Plasma HDTV for $700 with free shipping (normally $1000).
• Sony ES Series STR-DA4400ES Home Theater A/V Receiver for $799.99 plus free shipping (normally $1099.99 - use coupon code SONYSTR440ES).
• Sony HT-CT100 Sound Bar Speaker + Subwoofer for $219.99 (normally $299 – use coupon code: 3A825).
• Creative Inspire Speaker System $40 Shipped (normally $50 - use coupon code EMCYPYN25).
• Skullcandy Ink'd Earbuds - Black for $9.99 plus shipping (normally $19.99).
• Best Buy $9.99 + Free Shipping Blu-ray Movie Sale (Quantum of Solace, Dark City, MORE).
• Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition Loaded With Extra Mojo (Blu-ray) for $24
• Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Unrated Special Edition (Blu-ray) or Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle Extreme Unrated (Blu-ray) for $11

Personal Portables and Peripherals:
• iLuv iMM153BLK Alarm Clock for iPod with bed shaker for $19.99 (normally $32.99)
• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Navigation Edition Cell Phone (US Version, Unlocked, Quad Band) for $229.99 plus free shipping (normally $349 – use coupon code: 2HBF22GQ4Z6MVL).
• Jawbone Icon - The Thinker (black or silver) for $69 with free shipping (normally $89)
• Panasonic SDR-H80 SD and HDD Camcorder for $229 plus free shipping (normally $259).
• Samsung SMX-F34 Flash Memory Camcorder w/16GB Memory & 42x Intelli-Zoom for $167.23 (normally $230).
• Oregon Scientific ATC 3K Waterproof Action Cam Flash Memory Video Recorder with Web Cam Capabilities for $89 plus free shipping (normally $129.15).
• Nikon D5000 w/18-55 & 55-200mm lenses for $779
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 12.1MP Digital Camera for $166.45 plus free shipping (normally $185).
• Sony CyberShot DSC-W180 10MP 3X Digital Camera for $89.99 plus free shipping (normally $139).
• Casio EX-Z33VP 10.1MP Digital Camera for $79.99 plus free shipping (normally $91.85).
• 10MP Fujifilm FinePix Z30 Digital Camera $70 Shipped (normally $100).
• Apple iPod Shuffle 4GB for $55.99 plus free shipping (normally $79).
• Audio-Technica ATH-ES7 BK Circumaural Portable Headphone for $59 (normally $90)
• JBuds J2 Premium Hi-Fi Noise-Isolating Earbuds for $14.99 (normally $29.95).
• Lift Audio Groove Noise-Isolating In-Ear Headphone for $9.99 (normally $17.39).
• Motorola MOTOROKR S305 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones for $24.99 plus free overnight shipping (normally $59 – use coupon code: ACC5).

Hobomodo:
• GameFly 21-day Free Trial for $0 (normally 10 days - use coupon code 2military1)
• TeamViewer iPhone Remote Desktop App for $0
• Big Brain Of Fire (iPhone/iPod Touch) for $0 (normally $1.99).
• Good to Be by Backyard Tire Fire (MP3) for $0 (download here).
• Rachael Ray Nutrish Dog Food sample for $0 (use this form).
• Coupon for Honey Walnut Shrimp at Panda Express (Mar. 10 ONLY) for $0 (use this form).

If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, Logic Buy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

This is the eighth post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.


Florida Legacy - http://dig.tblc.org/dig/index2.html - "contains content digitized from the collections of Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC) member libraries, including photographs, books, pamphlets, documents, and newspaper clippings. Fifteen participating libraries have contributed over 50,000 records, including over 5,000 digital images of visual materials."

Florida Memory Project - http://www.floridamemory.com/ - photographs and videos, documents highlighting Florida's history, folklife collection, Spanish Land Grants, WWI service cards, Florida Confederate pension application files, Florida's early constitutions, family papers, physician's journal, ephemera, and WPA stories

Florida on Florida: Florida Electronic Library - http://bibt10f-8.fcla.edu/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx -  "The materials in Florida On Florida come from collections held by libraries, archives, museums and historical societies throughout Florida." Contains a catalog of digital materials related to Florida; including maps, photographs, postcards, books, and manuscripts.

Central Florida Memory - http://www.cfmemory.org/ - over 80,000 images of historic materials, diaries and letters, maps, photographs, and postcards

 Festina was founded as a Swiss replica watches manufacturer. The company was rolex watches established back in the year 1902. As the Official Timekeeper of the Tour de breitling watches France, Festina understands the importance of precision cartier watches  and performance. The Festina brand omega watches  is over 100 years old and one of the Panerai watches  fastest growing Patek Philippe watches brands in Europe-a best seller in its home Tag Heuer watches country of  Armani watches Spain. Today, the Festina brand continues its Audemars Piguet watches legacy of stylish European Bvlgari watches with an extensive collection of elegant, functional and sporty Franck Muller watches for every occasion.

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The Breitling Windrider collection which I believe was replica watches  formerly the Chronoliner and Nightflight collections ROLEX Watches  which were amalgamated into this series. There are all kinds of models for you to choose from ranging from men's & ladies' watches and automatic mechanical & quartz tag heuer aquaracer movements. Here's a variety BREITLING Watches  of TAG HEUER Watches bargain offer.

I've been a huge fan of Breitling CARTIER Watches for many years. I stumbled across them after I'd made up my OMEGA Watches  mind to buy a Tag Heuer watch and went into a store buy one. A very knowledgeable store assistant asked PANERAI Watches   me to take a look at Breitling as well. After quickly comparing both ARMANI Watches I just fell in love with the slightly classic look and robust lines of the Breitling watch. I bought one and have loved wearing AUDEMARS PIGUET Watches it ever since; it looks just as good as when I wear it with a business suit or when I'm relaxing in the garden in shorts and tee-shirt.

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Losing weight is not difficult when you have the right information, at the right time. Most of time people prefer dieting for weight loss. But, many times, dieting makes you feel frustrated. You take a few pounds off and slowly but surely, it comes back. In order to make the most of your weight loss program, finding the most effective ways to burn fat will maximize your results and minimize your waistline.

All across the globe, people live differently. They have their own dieting patterns and their own exercise habits. However, it seems that some of these habits are beneficial for weight loss across the globe. Here is a collection of weight loss tips from across the globe:

1. Eat more fish: Fish is a very important part of Japanese diet. It is a very good source of essential fatty acid like Omega 3 which help you get rid of cholesterol and raises your metabolism. Always prefer steaming or stir frying rather than frying it in heavy oil.

2. Stop eating before you are full: Never keep on eating till you are full. Always stop before you feel full. This comes from the Okinawans cultural habit called hara hachi bu, which means eat only until you are 80% full. This way your body doesn't feel lethargic after a meal and it works as a natural calorie control as well.

3. Eat Healthy oil: Really good fats come from unrefined vegetable oil, fish oil and olive oil. People who live in the Mediterranean region tend to eat a diet high in good fat and have a much lower incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

4. Load up in fiber: The Mediterranean Diet is also rich in whole grains. Whole grains are a good source of fiber. High fiber content foods should be included in your diet because they offer health benefits such as reduced risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and stroke and lower risk of developing certain types of cancer.

5. Focus on eating: Do not multi task when you are eating. People have a very bad habit of watching TV or reading books when they are eating. Multitasking while eating diverts your attention from your food, leading you to eat more than you should. Both the French and Japanese cultures believe that it's rude to do anything when you are eating.

6. Start your meals with soup: The Chinese philosophy of having a soup before a meal actually helps them to reduce their calorie intake. Soups are usually broth based and low in calories. As they are enjoyed before a meal, they reduce your hunger and help you eat less.

7. Work Out: One great way to maximize the amount of fat you are burning is to add an exercise program to your routine. The Japanese, the French and the Mediterranean people are naturally more active people because they walk a lot.

8. Eat frequently: The French philosophy 'Eat petite, Be petite' (literally meaning eat small, be small) plays a crucial role in their diet. They always have small amount of food but eat very frequently (sometimes even 4-5 meals a day). This keeps their metabolism active throughout the day helping them burn more calories.

9. Dine in a group: The Indian tradition on eating with your family also helps you lose weight. When eating in a group, you are more likely to restrain your habits and eat slowly than when you eat alone.

10. Have a heavy lunch and light dinner: According to Ayurveda, our bodies are designed to have maximum digestive capabilities in the afternoon when sun is the highest in the sky. Thus, if you have a heavy lunch it more likely to get digested efficiently. Dinner should be light and ideally be eaten before 8 pm or at least three hours before bed.

11. Think quality over quantity: The French and the Brits will always prefer quality food rather than quantity. They will always prefer natural food rather than the processed ones. The reason being when food is fresh and flavorful, you can be satisfied with smaller portions.

12. Wine with meals: The French diet is often used as an example of how wine can improve heart health. An antioxidant compound in grape skins called resveratrol aids in weight loss and overall good health. Wine also slows down the aging process but remember to drink responsibly.

By using the tips above, you can lose weight quickly and feel much better about yourself.

Related Articles:
Maintain Weight During Ramadan
Indian Weight Loss Diet
Top 10 Weight Loss Tips

There's a lot to be said about how covering up can be a whole lot sexier than baring it all. And judging from the looks of the new T fall '10 lookbook, Alexander Wang seems to have taken that idea to heart. The same slouchy, undone aesthetic that propelled Alex to megafame resonates throughout the collection of basics, which for the first time includes fancier pieces like wool blazers, denim jackets, and hooded ponchos. But what's really piquing our interest are the ankle-length knit dresses that would look just as right on a modest Chloë Sevigny on Big Love as a wild Chloë Sevigny on Bowery. Who knew the Morman look could be so hot? (WWD)

Filed under: Accessories, Fragrance, Fashion, Hair, Celebrity, News, Celebrity Hair, Designers & Brands

Here's what's happening around the web this morning:

Tommy Hilfiger Up For Sale?
Majority investors Apax Partners is said to be looking to offload the Tommy Hilfiger label. Just let me check with my accountant...
[Drapers]

Judith Leiber Launching Day Bags, Shoes, Costume Jewelry & New Fragrance
Phew! Not content to stick to mega-expensive crystal evening bags shaped like animals, Judith Leiber is planning day bags and costume jewelry collections, plus a new fragrance in time for the holidays and a shoe line for late 2011.
[WWD]

Made-to-Measure Speedos Designed for Curvy Bodies
Speedo UK has unveiled three new one-piece swimsuit styles tailored to fit women with hourglass, busty or pear-shaped bodies. Now if we could just sort out those teeny men's briefs.
[Daily Mail]

Moises de la Renta Designs for Mango
De la Renta designs at Mango prices? Swoon! Okay, okay, so it's Oscar's son Moises who will be designing t-shirts for the label, but we'll take what we can get.
[Vogue UK]

Dan Abrams Launching Fashion Website
NBC legal host and budding media mogul Dan Abrams has set his sights on fashion with the launch of Styleite.com on March 15th. Welcome to the club, Danny Boy.
[WWD]

Elvis Presley's Pompadour Wins Hair Survey
A Head & Shoulders survey in the UK ranked Elvis Presley's 'do as the most classic men's haircut, taking 50 percent of the votes. But not so fast, Elvis impersonators -- the survey also found that women prefer crew cuts to pompadours these days.
[Daily Express]

Tommy Hilfiger For Sale?, Speedos for Curvy Girls originally appeared on StyleList on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps, Mac Software

Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 1, 2010:

• Macintosh
• iPod

Macintosh

• Divine Fiat has announced The Complete Set, their entire collection of high quality themes for Apple’s Keynote presentation software. All 14 themes are now available for 60% off the individual theme set price. This is a collection representing great variety and value. Every theme comes in both standard and Widescreen formats. Each theme also includes extras such as fully customizable icon objects, custom texture and color palates and video tutorials.
• SimpleLeap Software has released Cram 1.3.4, an update to its popular flashcard and multiple-choice testing study app for Mac OS X. Cram is perfect for students, teachers, or anyone else looking to prepare for any subject matter on their Mac with flashcards and practice multiple-choice tests. Cram features multiple study modes, and the ability to share test material with friends. Version 1.3.4 updates with new easy installer and minor bug fixes.
• Keynote Zone has announced KeynoteZone Collection 7. All the best of Keynote Zone themes are now available for special price. Keynote Zone Collection 7 includes seven HD version themes. Each theme comes in 5 sizes, and you get everything you need for standard resolution, classic format projection, HD Projection systems or HD screens. Keynote Zone is a developer of professionally designed ready-to-use themes for Apple’s Keynote application.
• Digital Heaven, one of the leading third party developers for Apple Pro Apps, has announced the addition of a product directory and other enhancements to FinalCutters, a website for the Final Cut Pro community. FinalCutters now features the first ever comprehensive directory of Final Cut Pro related products with over 900 software, hardware and system products from more than 250 companies. Registered users can become a fan of products, write short reviews and give 1 to 5 star ratings.
• Clickable Bliss has announced the release and immediate availability of ProfitTrain 2.0, a significant update to its easy to use Mac OS X invoicing application that now features built-in reporting, flexible invoice workflows, line item blueprints, multiple business support and more.

iPhone/iPod/iPad

• 99Games has announced the release of Mystic Emporium for iPhone. The game follows the adventure of Lilly, an enchanting young witch, as she takes over Mystic Emporium to fulfill her life-long dream of running her own magic shop. Merscom had released the Windows and Mac versions of this game in May last year, which was a huge hit. The iPhone version of the game has several tweaks in the game play as well as major user interface enhancements to suit the platform. Mystic Emporium marks the entry of 99Games into the popular genre of Time Management games.
• Oscillatr Pro is a test tone oscillator that can produce tones within the audible field, from 20Hz to 20kHz. It features a revolutionary keypad consisting of 31 bands and 1/3 octave, which allows you to directly access frequency distribution, and supports various graphic equalizers. You can access to a wide range of audible fields. The application also contains functions that are suitable for searching characteristics of a room or howling spot, or tuning an instrument.
• Oceanhouse Media is celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday and NEA’s Read Across America Day by dropping all Dr. Seuss iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps to $0.99 each for one day only, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Oceanhouse Media has a license from Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring the entire line of classic children’s books to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. So far, they have published six eBooks, games and activity apps. All are available on Apple’s App Store.
• Ivanovich Games has released iBumpy Galaxy 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users looking for a wildly engaging challenge. The iBumpy Galaxy app has a lot of cool and unique features that promise intense gameplay, awesome music and tons of addictive fun. To celebrate this launch, developers are offering the first planet with ten levels absolutely free, as well as a motivating promotion for the first 250 players to complete the first planet.
• Weynand Training International has released iKeysToGo: iPhoto 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users who utilize iLife’s iPhoto ‘09. Developed by Weynand Training International, an Apple Authorized Gold Level Training Center, iKeysToGo: iPhoto is like having a keyboard command cheat sheet on the iPhone or iPod touch. The application is thorough, listing 300 commands, keyboard shortcuts and definitions for iPhoto ‘09. The iKeysToGo app can drastically increase learning and operation speed.
• FLAG Solutions has released Thief Buster Antitheft Alarm 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch users. Thief Buster is real anti-theft software, complete with biometric fingercoding, motion detection and volume blocking. It is the only application available that restarts itself if a would be thief tries to turn it off. The app is a very serious security measure against iPhone theft but still has the fun feel of a James Bond gadget.
• LuuX Software has released ShowerTime 1.0.0 for iPhone and iPod touch users interested in saving time and money while contributing to the preservation of natural resources. ShowerTime’s intelligent sound recognition feature automatically signals shower duration, while the app also calculates costs and projects cost and water savings. This means lower water and energy bills for users and fewer drains on the earth’s resources.
• A new update is available for Pang Mobile. Now Live in the App Store, users will be able to download and update their current version of the 80’s arcade classic, Pang! to include new controls (a wide range of new control options, including Accelerometer tilt control, a D pad, and left or right-handed control orientation) and challenges (directly challenge a friend to beat your Tour and Infinite mode high scores via Openfient).
• Independent developer Kyle T. Webster has announced White Lines 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Designed for all ages, White Lines asks players to redraw lines that travel across the screen in the same order and direction in which they originally appeared. The game begins with randomly generated sequences of two lines. As players successfully complete 15 sequences, they advance to the next level, in which an additional line is added to each sequence.
• Rozgo has announced Grokion, the newly coined upcoming sci-fi side scroller for the iPhone and iPod touch. An iconic action-adventure game inspired by the dark explorations of Metroid and intense platforming of Mega Man. Entwining brilliant modern game-play mechanics, physics-based puzzles and pure old-school styling, it delivers a nostalgic yet progressive gaming experience.
• App City has announced Pocket Whip Unleashed 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch. Pocket Whip Unleashed allows the user to record his or her own voice to interact with the whip. The user taps the record button and is prompted by a 3, 2, 1 beep countdown leader. This third version of Pocket Whip records and then automatically sequences the user’s voice alongside the built-in whipping sound effects.
• Broken Thumbs Apps has announced the release of Beer Toss 1.0, an addictive, easy-to-play casual game, where the player flicks as many consecutive beers to thirsty patrons as they can. Beer Toss features 4 unique beer-loving locations, a Beer Fridge that stores special trophy beers earned while playing the game, Open Feint achievements and leaderboards, as well as original graphics and sounds that create a lively ambiance for tossing beers.
• TapFactory Apps has announced WebToolbox 1.1, a new app for the iPhone and iPod touch that features over 70 tools for mobile Safari. WebToolbox is the largest collection of iPhone bookmark tools available. Some of the tools include find in page, with over 20 search tools for quickly searching sites such as Wikipedia, Google Images, Google News, Answers, Bing, AllMusic, Dictionary, Thesaurus, IMDB, Movie Times, Rotten Tomatoes, Bible Passages, and much more.
• CJApps has launched a brand new contest to promote the hit game Finger Maniac 1.1, available on the iPhone and iPod touch. In the latest update of the game, players are invited to try the 1Million point challenge. Between the dates of 3/1 and 5/1, players will be able to play this challenging mode and the first to reach 1 million points will win a brand new Apple iPad. Player will be given 90 seconds to type out as many 10-letter words as fast as they can.
• Everyday Giants LLC has announced the official release of iSpotSwap, the most intuitive community parking application available on the iPhone, allowing users in crowded areas to find and share available street parking.
• Atinco America has introduced World Traffic 1.0, their traffic control simulation game for iPhone and iPod touch devices. Players compete to see who can achieve the smoothest flow of traffic and fewest accidents on busy city streets. By skillfully controlling stop lights at intersections, players prevent traffic jams while accommodating school buses, emergency vehicles and cars. Streets are seen in overhead view, complete with buildings, lanes, lights and vehicles.
• Ave!Comics Production has announced the launch of its new web site and new iPhone application. With these two innovations, Ave!Comics Productions presents a totally new offer, never previously seen in the digital comics market. Access the store with 300 digital comics from major comic publishers from either ave-comics.com or the iPhone application. Discover Gaston, Lanfeust, Les Blondes and many more. More titles are added to the catalog every week.
• El Jimador Tequila, the authentic 100 percent real agave tequila, has announced the launch of its first iPhone application: 100% Party Planner. Designed by Draftfcb to accompany mobile adults through every step of planning a celebration, the free application is now available for download through Apple’s App Store, just use the search term el Jimador.
• dizm Entertainment has announced that their S.K.A.T.E. game is now available in Apple’s iTunes App Store. S.K.A.T.E. is dizm’s debut application for the iPhone, the first to incorporate professional skateboarder, Greg Lutzka, and features a customizable soundtrack by some of Skullcandy’s roster of established and emerging musical artists. The game of S.K.A.T.E. is essentially the skateboarding version of basketball’s H.O.R.S.E. game. In dizm’s version of S.K.A.T.E., players memorize the sequence of tricks done by Lutzka’s in-game character and repeat them by touching the illuminating buttons that correspond to each move.
• Pioneer Electronics, Inc. has unveiled a new line of 5.1 channel A/V receivers that deliver a dynamic music experience to the living room.  For the first time, the Pioneer VSX-520-K and VSX-820-K feature wireless Bluetooth transfer of audio content allowing users to enjoy their music directly from their Bluetooth-enabled device to their home theater system and are 3D Ready with the latest HDMI, version 1.4, providing more high definition connectivity options for the Blu-ray 3D specification. The VSX-820-K also features “Works with iPhone” certification, providing a seamless user experience for iPhone owners.
• iLuv Creative Technology has announced the iMM178 Vibe Plus, the next generation model from their Shake & Awake alarm clock dock series originally launched last year with the iMM153 . This Apple iPhone-certified new improved version features a sleek and slim black body design with a bed shaker that includes a speaker and volume control. iPhone and iPod users now have ten ways to wake up to their favorite music and this dock provides a 7 day - 5 day - 2 day alarm option for waking at a set time everyday, weekdays only or weekends.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

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