This is perfect for a late Monday morning.

Akte Blanix II (Connecting Flight), the latest amazing stunt paid for by Red Bull, involves two gliders and a lone man high above the ground.

Skydiver Paul Steiner stands on one glider while another -- flying upside down -- approaches from above. As the second glider gets within striking distance, Steiner reaches up and grabs hold of its rudder. Then Steiner celebrates his feat by jumping off and plummeting to earth.

The footage is really quite astonishing.

Next time, we'd like to see him high-five the pilot.

Video below.

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Redbull skydiver Paul Steiner has pulled off this amazing feat, captured on video, in which at 2100m he climbs out of his glider's cockpit (don't worry: the pilot stays), climbs to the outer edge of the wing, hangs down underneath...

**Here are the matches on TNA ‘Impact’ tonight at 9pm EST on Spike:
*Scott Steiner Vs Jesse Neal
*Rob Terry Vs Kurt Angle (I guess this comes right after a huge segment where Angle decrees his retirement after leaving his boots in the ring following the Jeff Jarrett match at ‘Against All Odds’, what a nothing storyline that led to)
*Max Buck Vs Jeremy Buck in an impromptu ‘Brother Vs Brother Match’
*Winter Vs Velvet Sky
*Sting & Mr. Anderson & Rob Van Dam Vs Matt Hardy & Bully Ray & Abyss in a Steel Cage Match (two-weeks before the all cage match pay-per-view)

**Here are the matches for the second to last edition of WWE ‘Superstars’, which were taped this past Monday in Chicago:
*Curt Hawkins Vs Trent Baretta
*Eve Torres & Gail Kim & Natalya Vs The Bella Twins & Melina

**WWE ‘Raw’ did a 3.8 rating for the go-home show this past Monday night. The first hour averaged 5,838,000 viewers and the second hour eclipsed the 4.0 mark and averaged 6,231,000 viewers including the final segment surpassing the 7-million mark.

**The WWE announced at the WrestleMania press conference in New York on Wednesday that Triple H would be inducting Shawn Michaels into the Hall of Fame. The other inductees we are aware of are Ted DiBiase for Jim Duggan, Dusty Rhodes for The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering, Terry Funk for Abdullah the Butcher, The Armstrong Family for Bob Armstrong and it is expected Bob Barker will induct Drew Carey. The only mystery is who is inducting Sunny. She told The LAW that she didn’t get to pick but could not reveal the name.

The Best and Worst of Raw 3/28/11 offers up the best (meaning the highest quality to be found in a given activity or category of things) and worst (most faulty, unsatisfactory, or objectionable) of the March 28 edition of WWE Raw. Brandon Stroud is a syndicated advice columnist whose weekly column, The Best and Worst of Raw 3/28/11, is featured in over 250 newspapers nationwide.

I’ve got a lot to say about last night’s main event confrontation, so let’s get right to it.

Best: John Cena > The Rock, Deal With It

The Rock has been “The Great One” exactly two times in his career. The first was when he became a member of the Nation of Domination and started telling Jennifer Flowers about the expense of his shirts. The second was when he shaved his head, put on a leather vest and started playing locally-condescending country and western songs on a guitar for seemingly no reason. Those are the only two Rocks that deserve your chanting and bowing.

Every other time he’s been a sweaty, gesturing jerk in block letter T-shirts shouting asinine catchphrases about the vagina and somehow becoming a wrestling icon despite never being the best guy in the company. Stone Cold Steve Austin was better than him in his prime, and now John Cena is better than him. John Cena is a lot better than him.

Last night’s main event segment (which couldn’t possibly be a match… can we still say match? Sorry, which couldn’t possibly be an entertainment) exhibited clearly why I’ve always sort of disliked Rocky; Rock came to the ring twitching and soaking wet, cut a 28-minute speech about how he loves Jesus and whooping ass, and continued his beef with Cena. Cena came to the ring and (in an admittedly very un-Cena-like turn of events) explained calmly, logically and confidently why everything the Rock was saying was bullsh:t. He spoke the truth. Rock has no actual issue with him, he’s just cherry picking these easy to digest phrases for people to laugh at and repeat (Fruity Pebbles, Power Ranger, Barney the Dinosaur). He’s like a living Sony Pictures Animated film. There isn’t a joke, he’s just saying coup d’état in a funny voice so kids will repeat it in the theater.

How does Rock respond? By threatening to beat him up. That’s it. That’s all he’s got. “I’m going of make fun of you. Wait, you can’t respond, LET’S FIGHT.” Cena completely shut down the Rock’s defenses by literately explaining that he’s full of crap, and Rock didn’t have anywhere to go. Thinking objectively, little kids should be cheering for Rocky’s stimulus response act and grown men should be cheering Cena as the emotionally sincere company man who isn’t going to back down from this bully’s ten year old nonsense.

What are your talking points against him? The same ones as the Rock. His shirt is too bright! Big deal. Grow up. Only kids like him! Only kids and adults who think for themselves and don’t jump on the Internet to figure out what they should think. He’s a bad white rapper! Yeah, and I’m bad at baseball, but I still like to do it. Cena is a human being, and despite being the most 2-D motherf**ker walking, he’s the most three dimensional ace the WWE has ever had. And he’s better than the Rock. He’s had more great matches, more memorable moments (good or bad), and his catchphrases are about 5% less dumb. Cena rules. Deal with it.

Worst: Cocaine Outside of the 1980s

But no, seriously, did you SEE the Rock? He kept blinking and staring at everyone like he was Val Kilmer in At First Sight, pouring full bottles of water over his head, shouting about Jesus, rambling on and on about “Team Bring It.” IF YOU’RE GONNA GO CAMPING YOU NEED TO BE ON TEAM BRING IT. YOUR TENT, SOME FOOD, YOU NEED TO BRING IT. He was the Dwayne Johnson Twitter Account That Walked Like A Man. He was tweaking his ass off, and honestly, outside of Cena calling him gay a couple of times, why the hell is he even so mad? You’re hosting Wrestlemania, you aren’t even wrestling. Calm the hell down.

In the 80s, Hogan could snort a line (eleven lines) of coke and give an awesome interview about having magical power sources in his palms and saving Donald Trump from collapsing fault lines. People don’t buy that anymore. Now it just makes you look like a creep. Rock looked like a member of The Power Team. An underwater member.

Secondary Worst: Miz Is Stalling

The Miz’s entire adult life has been building to this. We found out he was a wrestling fan (of course he was a wrestling fan) by watching him do a crappy impression of The Rock on The Real World. He gets into WWE, goes from a nobody to a somebody with a lot of hard work and only John Morrison’s inaccurately spinning coattails to ride, and boom, The Rock comes back to host Wrestlemania. This is Miz’s dream coming true. This is the most important thing he’s ever going to do in wrestling. So what happens?

He comes out with Alex Riley and cuts the same slow talking “laaaast weeeeeek johhhhhn ceeeeena” promo, makes some bad points, looks like an amateur next to Rock and Cena, then gets beaten up by a retired guy with a one on two disadvantage. The show goes off the air with Cena and Rock creating three simultaneous worldwide trends and Miz scurrying away off camera somewhere.

I love you, Miz, but you’ve got to come stronger than that. Go into business for yourself if you have to, you’re going to be here next Monday. The Rock isn’t.

Best: Morrison Sucks, Vickie Knows It

I feel like Vickie and Daniel Bryan are the two people I can count on to always be in the “best.” Vickie took the piss out of John Morrison’s slow motion entrance, then delivered a quick, effective super villain promo about how Snooki is an oft-unconscious whore. Then she just cackled until somebody else’s music started up. Vickie is the best, and she keeps getting fit and looking better, to the point that all the fat jokes are starting to sound a little Molly Holly . Maybe they haven’t debuted Awesome Kong yet because they didn’t know a heavyset lady could actually exist. If Candice Michelle was fat, what is Kong?

Worst: Snooki Sucks, Nobody Knows It

The Internet says Snooki showed up three hours late to film her segment for Raw, and that it took five hours to shoot. The result? Trish Stratus continues her Awkwardness Tour 2011 for about forty seconds while Snooki sips a drink, says “woo bitches” and slaps a guy. That’s it. After a heavy edit, we jump to a scene where LayCool arrives and says “um,” prompting Snooki to violently attack them. This took place at a public bar and is caught on video, which means Snooki should be tossed into hypothetical jail like so much nWo running so many Steiner Brothers off the road.

I’ve lived through Karl Malone and Jay Leno wrestling, so I understand why sometimes a celebrity gets tossed into something pointless to draw publicity. And I know that a pro wrestling post on a sports comedy blog isn’t the time to wax on the nature of television reality celebrity. But come on, guys, really? Snoop Dogg clotheslining Santino is one thing. That guy recorded Doggystyle. This is something completely different. If you really want a big-titted nobody from MTV to show up and be hateful to your wrestlers, at least bring in Coral. She has an instant program with the Miz. He isn’t giving title shots to any of the black superstars!

Best: HHH vs. Taker Is Now Money

The Triple H and Undertaker face-to-face confrontation seemed like a weird thing to have (especially when they were advertising it with footage of the face-to-face confrontation they had like three weeks ago), but it ended up being one of the best no-nonsense pro wrestling segments they’ve had in years. H respects Taker, but is confident that he’ll win. Taker and Shawn Michaels both know H is f**ked, but he doesn’t. At least not until the very last second when Shawn is gutted emotionally and tells H he can’t win. It’s respect and history playing off one another, and it’s a fantastic moment of basic storytelling to finally get me into the match.

However,

Worst: It Might Be Too Late

Shouldn’t this have been the first segment between the two? Shouldn’t this have happened when the Undertaker returned to set up the match, instead of cramming five weeks worth of plot points into a single confrontation? Let’s count all the things they could’ve covered in the last month, now that we’ve seen this segment:

1. HHH thinks it’s time for Undertaker to retire, and think he’s the one to put him down.
2. HHH respects the Undertaker for all he’s done in the business.
3. Taker respects HHH for what he’s done, and thinks that if anybody should put him down, it should be H.
4. HHH and Shawn Michaels are buddies, and H thinks Shawn thinks he can beat Taker.
5. Shawn is upset at HHH for thinking he can beat Taker easily, when Shawn took him on twice and lost spectacularly both times.
6. Taker secretly gets off on the fact that he humbled and retired Shawn, turning him into this weird little dancing cross-eyed hunting enthusiast.
7. Shawn still hasn’t gotten over those losses, no matter how gracefully he tried to ride off into the sunset.
8. HHH is the only person in the world who thinks he can beat Taker, but doesn’t realize it until the very last moment, when HBK tells him he can’t win.
9. So now H is in this spot where he’s got to win, he’s got to do what Shawn couldn’t and end the most hyped up and storied wrestling streak in history against the most confident guy in the world and a universe of people who think he’s up a creek.

That’s a great story, right? Here’s what we got.

1. Undertaker returns.
2. HHH returns.
3. Undertaker taunts.
4. HHH points at his dick.
5. They both point at the Wrestlemania sign.

And that is IT. For like THREE WEEKS. That’s nothing. That is garbage. Come on, the story is RIGHT THERE. Tell it.

Secondary Best: “Ma’am.”

But no, seriously, Shawn walking away scared, telling HHH that he can’t win, and H turning around to see Taker tipping his hat and smirking is absolutely amazing. In one little gesture Taker was like, “haha you’re f**ked, take it easy.”

Worst: Turn On Your Hometown Without Excerpt Quotes

When CM Punk started off the show sitting in the middle of the ring in a spotlight, I got excited … and when he said “Chicago” I got excited again, because I love when pro wrestling crowds react to things independently and don’t just hee-haw at everything they’re supposed to. But then I remembered how modern WWE writing works, and thought about how “Chicago” being mentioned meant Punk was going to explain how much he HATES Chicago and all the people in it. Sure enough, that’s what happened.

I’m no WWE writer (as I have not spent three to five years writing hacky controversial lesbian storylines on All My Children), but if I were, I think I’d let Punk have his Chicago audience. He doesn’t need to break out the same sh:tty talking points (which are “you people” and “each and every one of you”), he can hate Orton and be a scumbag who gets booed across the country and still not arbitrarily hate his friends and family. You don’t need shades of gray to be complex, you dumb jerks, you just need a basic level of human complexity.

Best: Skip Is Gonna Kiiiilll You

I have to admit, as bad as the New Nexus storyline has been, I’m pretty excited for the possibility of Skip Sheffield returning at Wrestlemania and absolutely lighting up gimpy, Ken Anderson-ass Randy Orton. Skip was a member of Nexus when he got hurt and never got booted, and he isn’t banned from ringside because he didn’t go through those matches with Orton. Skip can show up, powerslam the spray tan off Orton and give Punk the win. Punk winning is really the only way this can go, because 1) Punk really needs to look like a constructive part of these shows and 2) Orton has gotten about as bad as humanly possible lately. The snake pose is still pretty fun, but those sleepy promos and false wives and chinlock stompfests have got to go.

I just want to be able to stand up at a sports bar on Sunday and yell YIP YIP YIP WHAT IF F**KING DO.

Best: Quadruple Trombones

I’m your average smarkier-than-thou type on the Internet, and I’ve been watching wrestling long enough to get tired of the X-Division style of yakuza kick gymnastics, but I’m not jaded enough to start unironically liking people like Kane. Kane has always been one of my least favorite wrestlers, and I don’t care how handcuffed by the gimmick he is. He’s slow, boring, too fake to handle and always involved in the very worst storylines. Katie Vick. The Snitsky-flavored abduction and rape and abortion thing. Shane McMahon with a battery hooked up to his balls. Stuffed Paul Bearers getting accidentally murdered. He’s terrible in every way, and nobody paying attention should be taking him seriously.

That’s why I enjoyed him whipping out a pantomimed trombone to celebrate with Santino and Kozlov. The only value I see in Kane now is as a Stalker Ichikawa type. He’s the DEVIL’S FAVORITE DEMON~ but he occasionally breakdances. See, I can get behind that. Although I do miss when Santino layered the trombone act and made Melina and Beth Phoenix play different instruments. Why are we celebrating with four trombones?

And… Best? What Is Going On: Cole Is A Dead Man

I’m happy when the Best and Worst of Raw ends up being more Best than Worst. Last night’s show was fun, even if you notice how none of my bests or worsts had anything to do with the seventy seconds of wrestling that happened. Michael Cole called Edge and Christian one of the greatest tag teams “in entertainment history,” but even that was evened out by Lawler going 0.5 Memphis, jacking up Swagger with a steel chair and trying to climb into the Cole Mine. The segment needed a fireball, but it was fun. Hopefully this is the last time I’ll have to type it, but WWE types, if you’re listening (and not just watching All My Children for spot ideas), bloody Cole up, set him on fire and piledrive him onto the cement.

It’s pay-per-view. You don’t have to be TV-PG. Do it this one time, and if it’s the only time anybody got set on fire and cut in the face and piledriven onto the floor in the modern area, those little kids will remember it FOREVER.

With Clifton Phifer Lee deciding upon a return to his “old team” (or at least one of his four old teams), it would seem that the majority of those Indians that have departed stage left from the organization (that would be via trade) have found new homes for themselves. Thus, while the young players that emerged in the early-to-mid-2000s for the Tribe move on to cash larger paychecks and to enjoy the spotlights of the bright lights and the big cities, the Indians continue to sort through where exactly they stand in this new incarnation of “Rebuild/Reload/Whatever”.

Now that the music has stopped, everyone seems to have a seat…that is, except for Tribe fans.

With that in mind, it’s time to explore the topic of whether the Indians acted prudently in the past 2 ½ years, trading off their major parts for prospects and whether the “collateral damage” done by those actions – though they may have been the best idea in the long-term – is going to haunt this team in the short-term.

For some help and some compelling “conversation”, let’s welcome Jon Steiner of WFNY back in and let “Jon & Paul Talk Baseball” once more…

JON: If there’s anything we’ve learned over the last decade as Indians’ fans, it’s that the front office believes that trading its (most valuable) assets is the most productive method of adding talent to the organization. They seem to feel that, when the team isn’t contending, the best course of action is to use the existing talent to reload the system at all levels. Let’s run down a few of our infamous and not so infamous trades, shall we?
• CC Sabathia became: Matt LaPorta, Michael Brantley, Rob Bryson, and Zach Jackson
• Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco became: Jason Donald, Lou Marson, Jason Knapp, and Carlos Carrasco
• Victor Martinez became: Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price.
And there’s more: Rafael Betancourt and Ryan Garko and Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach and Austin Kearns and Kerry Wood and on and on all became new, young faces in this organization.

It’s almost enough to give a fan tunnel vision. If it’s clear that we wouldn’t be able to (or shouldn’t) re-sign these players, then we might conclude that trading players who are about to become expensive is the best course of action for a team on a budget.

But we forget: there’s another option. What if we kept these players for the full life of their contracts, and then let them walk in free agency? There’s a system in place in the MLB the compensates teams who lose productive free agents with draft picks. Yes, the system for determining a “productive free agent” is a bit fishy (I’m looking at you, Elias), but consider this:
• Over the last five years, the Boston Red Sox (you remember them, right? Those small market darlings) have been so ravaged by free agents leaving for greener pastures that they’ve been able to corral 17 picks in the first and supplemental rounds of the draft! This season, once Adrian Beltre signs elsewhere, they’ll get five picks (two for Victor leaving, two for Beltre, and one for Bill Hall)! Some of these picks became Nick Hagadone, Clay Bucholz, Bryan Price, and Daniel Bard.
• Since 2001, those scrappy New York Yankees have had 17 of these sorts of picks. Let me repeat: they’ve had seven extra first round picks in the last decade because they’ve been decimated by free agent departures.

So my question is whether the Indians would have been wise--and yes, I’m in full-hindsight-mode here--to have held onto their big pieces and allowed them to leave via free agency? Not only would the front office not be dealing with a full-blown PR disaster created by the trades, but they could’ve used the compensatory draft picks to restock their system rather than targeting those glorious MLB-ready additions like Lou Marson and Jason Donald.

I’m not sure there’s a right answer to this, but I feel like the question at least has to be asked. What say you?

PAUL: As to the manner in which these prospects make their way to the Indians as prospective FA are dealt or as draft picks are awarded for FA that leave, I suppose that I would say that the strategy to trade the veterans for MiLB prospects instead of stockpiling draft picks has more to do with can be learned about young players from the time that they are drafted to the time that they make the Big Leagues. Certainly, both unproven prospects and unproven draft picks are just that – unproven – and there’s going to be a high percentage of them that flame out before reaching MLB and in both scenarios, you’re getting unproven talent with the hopes that potential will reach a level of production commensurate with either a draft position or as a return for a particular player.

The choice that the Indians made (trading for MiLB players instead of getting the compensatory picks) essentially boils down to the track record that would exist in MiLB for the prospects they trade for instead of the prospects that they would draft. By that I mean that the players acquired via trade over the last 2 ½ years all had a “track record” in MiLB to the point that they were more of a “known quantity” (term cannot be used more loosely) than a player that was drafted and whose only “track record” consisted of competition in high school or college.

Essentially, the guys that they traded for are further along in their development than the guys that would have been taken in the 2009 draft (CC was a Type A and Blake and Byrd were Type B FA), in last year’s draft (Betancourt was a Type A and DeRosa and Pavano were Type B FA), or that would be taken in the upcoming the 2011 draft (CP and Vic are Type A, Peralta and Wood are Type B FA), meaning that the Indians had a body of work for the prospects they acquired that was more than just college stats or high school stats.

Just to use the principal acquisitions from the three deals, guys like LaPorta (496 MiLB PA when he was traded by the Brewers), Masterson (233 MiLB innings and 160 1/3 more innings in MLB with Boston) and Carrasco (696 1/3 MiLB innings in the Phillies organization before his 23rd birthday) all had a track record of success in the Minors and, in most cases, had excelled at the upper levels of the Minors or in MLB at a young age. If the Indians were to simply restock the cupboards with draft picks, they wouldn’t have those comparative MiLB (or even MLB) numbers upon which to base their decision.

Additionally, if you think back to when the CC deal was made, the Indians success in drafting versus acquiring young talent via trade didn’t put much doubt as to where the strength of player acquisition had been for the last decade. Comparing Sowers, Huff, Crowe, and Mills to Choo, Cabrera, and the Colon haul left little doubt as to where the Indians’ Front Office had been successful…and where they had not.

Certainly some of that poor drafting (and a likely hesitance to rely on the draft) is self-inflicted and more of an indictment of the Front Office than most care to acknowledge, but what I find interesting about the return for a number of the players that were dealt is their high draft position when they were drafted by their original teams. When examining the players that have been added via trade over the last two years, it’s almost like the Indians were trying to make amends, or make up for, some terrible in-house drafting by picking up some high draft picks who had succeeded at some level of MiLB.

By that I mean that, just using CC, CP, and Vic, realize that Price, Hagadone, and LaPorta were all 1st Round Picks and Masterson and Knapp were 2nd Round Picks from 2006 to 2008, whereas the supplemental picks received from that trio would come in the 2009 draft and the upcoming 2011 draft. If you go further as to the players added in the past 2 ½ years, consider the draft pedigree of some of these players:
2006
Chris Perez - 1st Round (#42 overall)
Justin Masterson - 2nd Round
Jason Donald - 3rd Round

2007
Matt LaPorta - 1st Round (#7 overall)
Nick Hagadone - 1st Round (#55 overall)
Jess Todd - 2nd Round

2008
Bryan Price - 1st Round (#45 overall)
Jason Knapp - 2nd Round

All were top picks, but they were selected earlier than the Indians could have drafted had they waited for draft compensation from CC or as they would still be waiting for Lee and Vic draft compensation. This chart also doesn’t take into account players like Carrasco or Santana, who were amateur FA.

As much as we get excited about Alex White and Jason Kipnis (2009 draft picks) and how they’ve been fast-tracked, remember the names Kentrail Davis and Maxwell Walla and their relevancy to this discussion.
Who in the world are Kentrail Davis and Maxwell Walla?

Why, the two players selected by the Brewers with their compensatory picks for losing CC in the 2009 draft. Kentrail Davis (#39 overall) is a 22-year-old OF who just posted a cumulative .866 OPS in low-A and high-A ball in 2010 and Maxwell Walla (2nd Round compensatory pick) is a 19-year-old OF who spent the 2010 season in the Arizona Rookie League, posting a .699 OPS. As disappointing as Matt MaTola has been and as choppy as Mike Brantley’s transition to MLB has been, there’s the alternative and what the Brewers have to show for finishing the 2008 season with the Hefty Lefty.
What the Red Sox and Rangers end up with for Vic and Cliff remains to be seen, but those compensatory picks aren’t coming until this June and with the crevasse in the Indians’ organization (self-created, I might add), there was a need to infuse the farm system with upper level talent that the team wouldn’t have to wait 4 to 5 years to develop. It’s a luxury that teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees can afford, which is why the draft compensation makes sense for them as their parent clubs are constantly loaded. In the case of the late-2000 Indians, the sense of urgency is greater.

JON: I think you’ve probably convinced me that, at least from an organizational perspective, the trades netted us a more immediate (and likely more productive) haul than the compensatory draft picks would have. And I say this after having watched the fairly pathetic 2010 performances of Matt LaPorta and Lou Marson. As I said, nicely done.

I should also admit that my question was, at best, disingenuous. You’re right to point out that draft picks are the only thing that’s less of a sure thing than MiLB prospects. I was more interested in pointing out the idiocy of a system that feels the need to compensate teams like Boston and New York for “losing” free agents.

But there was a second part to my question that we haven’t yet addressed, dealing with a subject I’ve spent a good deal of time writing about recently. Namely, what did those trades--especially the trades of Sabathia, Martinez, and Lee--do to the team from a PR perspective? And why should this even matter?

As analysts primarily of wins and losses, some would argue that we shouldn’t concern ourselves too much with these sorts of issues, and I think that warning makes some sense. If you get too carried away with what Joe Schmoe thinks, you might miss what the team is actually trying to accomplish. On the other hand when you see a team that boasts the lowest attendance in MLB, I think it’s fair to at least wonder about the effects some of these decisions had on the fanbase at large--something certain politicians call “collateral damage.”

After all, a team’s competitiveness is tied directly to its revenue stream, which is tied in large part to a club’s ability to market its product to a fanbase. I would argue that the three trades mentioned above damaged the team, perhaps irrevocably, from a PR standpoint. Rightly or wrongly, those trades sent a message to the majority of fans that the Indians not only weren’t willing to invest in the team, but that they couldn’t even pay their bills. (Let me be clear that I don’t believe this. But let me also be clear: what I believe is irrelevant.) This crisis of confidence--initiated by the Sabathia trade--sent ticket sales and revenue streams down the toilet, which, in turn, has hamstrung the club’s ability to spend moving forward.

I’m probably a bit eager to connect some of the dots here that don’t necessarily correlate and I might be over-emphasizing the deleterious after-shocks of the trades of the 2008 and 2009. But I wonder: would any of this antipathy toward the Indians be dulled or diminished had we allowed the players to leave of their own volition? Or would the pitchfork crowd just complain, in a grass-is-always-greener way, that we should have traded them when we still could? I honestly don’t know. But I hope the club has a plan to get these people buying tickets again, and I’m not sure that dollar dogs is the answer.

Maybe it’s just this simple: not many fans like a loser--and the consequences of the Hafner contract ensured that we’d be losers for awhile. Nevertheless, I still think that those trades cost the club in ways that Carlos Carrasco and Justin Masterson can never repay--at least not in the hearts and minds of some fans I’ve met. I wish it weren’t so, but I’m afraid it probably is.

PAUL: This is the most frightening part of the trades of the last 2 ½ years to me as I have that same fear that the PR damage already done is not all that easily undone, if it can be undone at all. It has been referred to as the “Spiral of Death” in some places as you can follow the progression where the the fans don’t show up because the team isn’t winning, the team doesn’t spend money to improve the team because of decreased revenues, and the fans don’t show up because the team isn’t...well, you get the idea.

Where the Indians currently sit in that “Spiral” is up for debate as the team HAS in fact spent in years past to extend their veterans (Hafner and Westbrook, most notably) only to be burned by those deals and added a significant piece via FA (Wood), even when they looked to be on the decline from their apex, only to be...say it with me, burned by that deal. With the Indians now slashing prices in an effort to attract people to the ballpark by gimmicks and giveaways, one has to wonder how they’re going to end this “Death Spiral” as they never really completely pulled themselves out of it, even with the talented group of players that donned the Chief from 2005 to 2009 or so.

Winning is the panacea (or so they so), but this team is probably going to need an extended period of winning (likely 3 consecutive seasons or so) if they’re legitimately going to draw people back. The reason I say this is simply from recent history as if you want to go over the records and attendance over the last few years and how the fans never really did come out when they were winning (mainly because they were never able to piece together consecutive seasons of success), you can have at it, but I’m done taking kicks at that dead horse (record vs. attendance) that’s been laying there since 2008.

The fact is that people (well...some of them) were willing to accept the rebuild back in 2002 as it was presented very clearly and articulated very well as to what the Front Office was going to do to leap back into contention within three years. While they accomplished that, the fans didn’t exactly storm the box office, taking a Missouri approach (“Show me that you’re going to be good for a while) and the team promptly fell on its collective face in 2006 and, more importantly, 2008.

What’s happened since then is well-documented, but in the here and now, their PR is an unmitigated disaster and their place in the public’s perception couldn’t get lower as they constantly and unabashedly point to an uneven playing field in MLB (which is valid) to justify where they are, but never acknowledge their own shortcomings in the endeavor (poor drafting, most notably) or point out that the risks that they did take financially blew up in their faces (Hafner, Westbrook, Carmona...before last year) or even take the effort to put Front Office changes into place that at least give the illusion of change. Instead, they given interviews with talking points focusing on this garbage line that “we’re not going to spend money, because the time isn’t right”, which is ripe to be skewered (and rightfully so) by the local media and the “pitchfork crowd” (as you so adroitly coin them) and leaves the Indians looking defeated and desperate before a season even starts.

Don’t think that this perception of the Indians hasn’t become pervasive and nearly accepted as fact as about a month ago, our (I share a package with my parents) season ticket renewal packet came in the mail and my father said that he just didn’t see the point in going to games if they weren’t going to field a competitive team. After I reminded him that we started our season tix package together BEFORE the 2004 season (coming off of a 94-loss season in 2003) because HE was excited about Jody Gerut and Jason Davis and what the future held. Even after this reminder, he begrudgingly relented to re-upping and said that he while he was excited about Santana and some other young players, that he didn’t know if he could put his heart into believing that the current team will succeed, mainly because he knows what’s eventually coming if they do succeed.

That may have been the crushing fall-out from the CC, Lee, and Vic deals coming in such rapid succession as, when the Colon deal was made, most of the other pending FA had made their way out of Cleveland and Colon was the last remaining big chip to move. People understood the notion of knocking it down to build it back up when it was moving that one chip. After those three guys were moved, among others, and the sense that this team was going back to square one, the Indians’ fan wasn’t interested in putting themselves through the education process associated with Carlos Carrasco or Mike Brantley nor did they want to see these young players struggling...as young players are wont to do because of the heartbreak that they saw as looming, regardless of how far off that heartbreak could be.

The suddenness of the tear-down after the meticulousness and growing pains of the build-up left many fans not wanting to go through that another rebuild if it’s going to eventually be torn down at some point in the future.

Now, the team is where we are today, attempting to build back up and the Front Office afraid to speak out that they have accomplished this before from 2002 to 2005 or to point out that they DID build a talented team (evidenced by the contracts handed out to a number of those players) from scratch...they just built a talented team that didn’t consistently win.

Realizing that this is all hindsight, it becomes the great question of what SHOULD the Indians have done to avoid this or if it was unavoidable and the Indians took the most prudent, if painful, path when presented with all of the alternatives, even if that path alienated a large portion of the fanbase.

What if they have played out the string with the players (just to use one incarnation) from the 2008 team and CC had left via FA...who’s the victim in the situation?

What if they would have kept Lee and Victor and attempted to keep Pavano for 2010...where would the Indians sit today, in terms of lineup and rotation with all of those players?

Right now, it’s all “what if’s”...but really, “what if”?

by Arely Villegas for LAist

The Smithsonian Institution controversy continues strong and as predicted will last for months. Artist David Wojnarowicz may be laughing from the grave as his work still continues to spark dialogue and receive wide attention. Multiple art institutions through out the country have taken the liberty to screen the film. In our city, CB1 Gallery in the downtown gallery row was the first to screen the film for the public. Workspace in the Lincoln Heights area will screen the Wojnarowicz piece this Sunday evening, followed by a discussion with co-curator of “Hide/Seek: Difference in Desire in American Portraiture” Jonathan Katz via Skype from Washington D.C. Our local museum The Hammer, also announced their participation in screening the film for the public.

In light of the current arts wave of controversy, The Museum of Contemporary Art decides to whitewash a recent completed mural of Italian street artist Blu. Now, we wonder how this will affect the scheduled street art show “Art in the Streets” in 2011?!

“If you want to look at art you can find it” - Frank Stella

Friday December 10

Pepin Moore (Chinatown): Head down to Chinatown for the opening reception of artists Jed Lin, Marie Jager, and Talia Chetrit. 7-9 p.m.

Saturday December 11

David Hendren at EGHQ (Culver City): Artist David Hendren unveils a site specific installation combining wood, paint, light, and sound to utilize the familiar outdoor giant-- the billboard. 6-9 p.m.

Who Are These People? At Raid Projects (Lincoln Heights): Raid Projects pokes at the notion of the artistic genius, one that goes unrecognized until later in life or death. Join artists Michelle Jane Lee, Carrie McIlwain, Neill Orje, Jeremy Oversier, Ashley Poole, and Sara Simon. 6 - 9 p.m.

I Have a Light at SF1 Gallery (Mid Wilshire): Artists: Suzanne Adelman / Kaucyila Brooke / Sky Burchard / Anthony Carfello with Nina Laurinolli, Adam Peña, and Trinidad Ruiz / Young Chung / Cirilo Domine / Morgan Fisher / Margaret Honda / Hyesook / Sojung Kwon / Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza / Yong Soon Min/ Suthat Pinruethai / Gala Porras-Kim / Jen Smith / Connie Samaras / Keith Walsh / Matt Wardell. With Musical performances by Summer-mune and Frixus. A scheduled bike ride will occur during the opening, with the starting point at Chris Burden’s Urban Light Sculpture, infront of the LACMA entrance.

Bobbi Woods: Dark Glasses at Workspace Gallery (Lincoln Heights): Artist Bobbi Woods work is a soft minimalism ridden over text and popular culture connotations. 7- 10 p.m.

Vynil Mandala at Actual Size Gallery (Chinatown): Vinyl Mandala highlights Los Angeles based artists and collectives who utilize the album as a medium. Limited run records with hand-made graphic elements provide a visual and tactile addition to the listening experience. A selection of unique vinyl records will be on display and available for listening. For the opening reception, Actual Size will host an evening of live performance and DJ sets. Don’t Miss!!. 7 p.m. - 12 a.m.

David Hughes: Uitoa at WPA (Chinatown): Artist David Hughes presents his new book Uitoa, as a wall sculpture. Join the artist for the opening this Saturday. 8 - 10 p.m.

Big City Forum #22 at Honor Fraser Gallery (Culver City): Big City Forum serves as a series of dialogues in the context of art and architecture. For Saturday’s series principal of Rachel Allen Architecture, artist Olga Koumoundouros, and writer/artist Ken Ehrlich discuss the practices of art + architecture. 4 - 6 p.m.

Telephone at Francois Ghebaly (Culver City): A one night only performance and sound art night with special collaborations from artist Mathew Timmons and 323 Projects. 7 - 10 p.m.

The Date Farmers at ACE Gallery (Mid Wilshire): The Mid Wilshire branch of Ace Gallery brings us and The Date Farmers. An exhibition celebrating Bicentennial of Mexican Independence. Opening reception this Saturday from 8 - 11 pm.

Alex Mirutziu:Critique On How Temples Move Faster Than Their Shadows at Mihai Nicodim Gallery (Culver City): The first solo exhibition in the U.S. of Turkish bred artist Alex Mirutziu. The opening reception will be followed by a live performance by the artist. Performance starts promptly at 7 p.m.

Wreck The Walls at Subliminal Projects (Echo Park): Shepard Fairey opens his doors to Wreck The Walls, for the opening reception of artist Alan Shaffer, Alejandro Gehry, Andy Moses, Bertil Petersson, Billy Al Bengston, Blek Le Rat, Curtis Kulig, David Ellis, David Yow, Ed Moses, Ellwood T. Risk, Erik Foss, Eric Schwartz, Eric White, Evan Hecox, Greg Lamarche, Jason Alper, John Van Hamersveld, Kelly Berg, Laddie John Dill, Larry Bell, Martha Cooper, Monica Canilao, Retna, Robbie Conal, Ryan McGinness, Ryan Travis Christian, Skullphone, Swoon, Tim Biskup, and Vanessa Prager. 5 - 9 pm

Anthony Pearson at David Kordansky Gallery (Culver City): The opening reception of artist Anthony Pearson’s new body work, ranging from sculpture to photographic mediums. 6 - 9 p.m.

Sunday December 12

David Wojnarowicz “A Fire in My Belly” at Workspace Gallery (Lincoln Heights): Workspace Gallery is the second arts name in Los Angeles to screen the original thirteen minute Wojnarowicz film “A Fire in My Belly”. The film will be followed by a dialogue with co curator of “Hide/Seek: Difference in Desire in American Portraiture” Jonathan Katz via Skype from Washington D.C. Screening begins promptly at 7:15 p.m. followed by a dialogue at 7:30 p.m.

Artist Curated Projects: Art Sale (Silverlake): ACP is a strong contributor to the Los Angeles art community, join them this Sunday for a benefit sale just in time for the holidays. The contributing artists include: Sam Gordon, Lecia Dole Recio, A.L. Steiner, Pearl C. Hsiung, Anna Sew Hoy, Yunhee Min, Lee Maida, Suzanne Wright, Jen Smith, Davida Nemeroff, Kelly Barrie, Laurie Nye, Young Chung, Math Bass, Martha Windahl, Nancy Popp, Sean Mcdonald, Molly Larkey, Patrick Meagher, Kiki Johnson, Kathryn Andrews, Onya Hogan-Finley, Daniel Ingroff and Erika Vogt.

Suprasensorial Dialogue at National Democratic Department (Little Tokyo): Sunday marks the opening of Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space at MOCA- Geffen location. Join curators Alma Ruiz, Yann Perreau, and Valerie Fletcher in conversation with artists Julio Le Parc, and Neville D’ Almeida. 3 p.m.

Tuesday December 14

Screening: Machines For The Future at Mandrake Bar (Culver City): Experimental films by Adele Horne, Fern Silva, Deanna Erdmann, Dani Leventhal, Shambhavi Kaul, and Ben Rivers. 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

75 Years of DC Comics at The Hammer Museum (Westwood): Join writer Paul Levitz (“75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking”), Jim Lee Co Publisher of DC Comics, Comedian Patton Oswalt, and Creative Director of DC Entertainment Geoff Johns for a a history discussion of DC Comics. The discussion will be followed by a book signing of Paul Levitz “75 Years of DC Comics”. 7 p.m.

Wednesday December 15

Hanne Darboren: Wnschkonzert at Regen Projects (West Hollywood): an exhibition of the work Wunschkonzert (1984) by Hanne Darboven. Originally shown in Documenta 11 (2002) as a collection of loose pages in folders. Opening reception 5 - 7 p.m.

New Possibilities: Cinema and Art History with Peter Greenaway at The Getty Center (Brentwood): Filmmaker Peter Greenaway discusses the linkage of Cinema and Art History. Greenaway explored this theme in a series of installations, Nine Classic Paintings Revisited.

Flux Screening Series at The Hammer Museum (Westwood): Short films and music collides at The Hammer’s Flux Screening Series. Join Angela + Ithyle, Vincent Haycock, Sophie Gateau and Neistat Brothers, who will share rare works. The program will also include new work from Spike Jonze, Aardman Animation, Kutiman and David Altobelli. Guest DJ Nitedog (Blackdisco) will host musical musings during a courtyard reception following the screening. 8 p.m.

For the first four chapters, click any of the following links.
-Part One
-Part Two
-Part Three
-Part Four

And now, without further ado, the final chapter in the legacy of the Survivor Series.

The 2001 Survivor Series was legitimately the last one to truly showcase the event’s purpose in full. Over the past nine years, we’ve seen a different breed of Survivor Series that honestly doesn’t have the feel of the original or anything like a “big four” pay-per-view.

Take, for example, the 2002 event, our next in the series. World Wrestling Entertainment (now renamed, finally) had lost most of the edge of the Attitude Era. No competition, no Stone Cold, no Rock. In fact, the WWE was in a state of total reconstruction and searching for its next big money maker.

The company brought in Eric Bischoff, the very same man that almost put them out of business when he headed WCW. They inexplicably began to bring in WCW stars that were, for whatever reason, unavailable at the time of the 2001 Invasion storyline. They were even creating a new star that was tearing up the roster named Brock Lesnar.

All of this, however, amounted to little fanfare and ratings as interest in the company slid downward. With a surely bankable affair at Madison Square Garden, the WWE decided to change the format of the Survivor Series by adding a contest that was sure to get numbers. The match in question was the Elimination Chamber.

Shrouded in mystery with only several descriptors and imagination, the Elimination Chamber was to be the newest evolution in spectacle wrestling. The WWE even went so far as to abstain from showing any images of the structure until the pay-per-view began, implying that you wouldn’t get any bit of the satisfaction unless you shelled out the dough.

Even with the Elimination Chamber, the night was quite memorable for a lot of other reasons. Trish Stratus and Victoria gave us a brutal women’s championship match that was contested with hardcore weapons surrounding the ring. The Dudley Boyz reunited during a six-man tables match against Rico and 3-Minute Warning.

The aforementioned Lesnar met his first true obstacle in the WWE when he was defeated by Big Show after Paul Heyman, Lesnar’s manager, betrayed "The Next Big Thing" and helped Show capture the title. Show’s first two WWE title reigns started at the Survivor Series, for those interested.

The night even had some excellent tag team action and the surprise debut of Scott Steiner, who by this point, was almost too juiced up to move. The fans still erupted for Big Poppa Pump, though that love affair was short lived.

The night’s main event, the Elimination Chamber match, was a gruesome six-man contest that saw the competitors devastate one another for more than half an hour. But in the end, as stars like Rob Van Dam, Booker T, or Chris Benoit could have triumphed, the WWE booked an aging, semi-retired Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight title from his best buddy Triple H.

Not that it wasn’t an exciting conclusion to a definitively excellent concept match, but having Michaels be the one to win the strap when nearly all the other combatants deserved the chance seemed all too familiar. Despite being one of the strongest cards in a lackluster 2002, the pay-per-view buy rates for Survivor Series were down from 2001.

The mystique of the Elimination Chamber only helped to draw back so much of the audience, and with respect to the other big events of the year, it was the lowest subscribed. Naturally, when the WWE could have blamed the changing climate on professional wrestling around them, they instead hastily believed that continued booking of their only established main event talents would keep them in the black.

At the 2003 Survivor Series, the WWE went back to their old ways by bringing in two elimination matches to fill out a card that was already ripe with stipulation clashes. It was, however, this event that showed the important symbolism of what surviving the five-on-five tag match could do for your career.

In the opening Team Angle vs. Team Lesnar escapade, Kurt Angle’s team triumphed handily with two survivors, neither of whom was Kurt Angle. Instead, it was Chris Benoit and John Cena who would dominate the contest and go on to bigger and better things soon after. The same could be said of Randy Orton, who survived the Team Austin/Team Bischoff war later in the evening.

But the 2003 Survivor Series was booked with pretty blatant disregard for these elimination matches. The Austin/Bischoff angle was all about Austin and Bischoff, neither of whom was competing in the contest. The ambulance match that was meant to be a pivotal contest of the evening was booked with Shane McMahon actually holding his own against Kane, an incredibly laughable premise.

A Buried Alive match later in the evening wasn’t even really a match, as the Undertaker bloodied and battered Vince McMahon for ten minutes before Kane ran in and helped Vince win the match. And in the night’s main event, Triple H once again did the job, but this time, it was to Bill Goldberg. Yes, Bill Goldberg.

Despite being the seventeenth annual Survivor Series event, the whole show felt like it was being booked by a 17-year old. The trend would continue nearly every year without change.

The 2004 PPV was a repackaged event in almost every sense of the word. Randy Orton ended the night on top as the sole survivor after defeating, you guessed it, Triple H. The next great chapter in the Divas feud between Trish Stratus and Lita ended in a disappointing disqualification after only one minute of action. And the only world title match on the card, contested between John Bradshaw Layfield and Booker T, was all wrong from the opening bell.

In fact, each of the last two events were some of the lowest watched Survivor Series pay-per-views in history. Only the 1995 and 1996 events fared worse, likely because of the rough competition from WCW and the battle scars coming from the Monday Night War. Things were in an odd and awkward place when it appeared as if the WWE would turn the corner in 2005.

Over the course of that year, the WWE developed two new, legitimate company stars, John Cena and Batista. They would be heavyweight threats and Randy Orton was finally ready to be in the main event as well. There was even a steady stable of midcard wrestlers who were making an impact and looking primed to be at the top.

But as well as 2005 started, it was falling apart by mid-year. The progression of John Cena as the top face in the company was turning into a nightmare when fans began to jeer at the Superman style character. Batista, who was steadily still the most popular name on the RAW roster, was moved to SmackDown and almost immediately stuck in a string of injuries and bad matches.

The next big heel entity in the company, Muhammad Hassan, fell on hard times when SmackDown broadcaster UPN refused to show any footage of the often offensive character on their network. And as if all of this wasn’t enough to stir the pot in the company, a longtime fan favorite and star Eddie Guerrero passed away just two weeks before the event.

While the WWE attempted to come together and put on their best possible product, the 2005 Survivor Series was still lacking a little something overall. The night was also booked to fail from the get-go thanks to more than strange decisions from top to bottom.

With fans clamoring for John Cena to show weakness against his uber-popular opponent Kurt Angle, Cena triumphed with ease as the crowd panned their WWE Champion. Just before that, they were treated to a 30-minute brawl between Triple H and Ric Flair, neither of whom was necessarily on top of their game in a match that had more low blows and nut shots than a pornographic movie.

The night even had a match between Theodore Long and Eric Bischoff. Yes, fans were charged to see this match, which went on for five minutes. Pass.

In the main event, the Survivor Series elimination contest took center stage with RAW taking on SmackDown. But as Randy Orton stood victorious as the sole survivor for the third consecutive year, the action took a backseat to the return of the Undertaker, who had been advertised as appearing on the card for months. In total, he was on screen for less than five minutes, or the rough duration of the Long/Bischoff affair.

All in all, things were shaping up as par for the course for the Survivor Series. Not to snub them outright, but each of the next four Survivor Series events would turn out exactly the same way.

In 2006, we witnessed the first 5-0 sweep and the rise of Bobby Lashley as the next big star for the company. When Batista won the World Title in the main event, fans yawned as the peak of the Animal’s popularity had long passed.

In 2007, it would be Jeff Hardy that rose to the occasion as the next big star for the company thanks to his outing in an elimination match. But again, that victory was overshadowed by the return of Edge and a Hell in a Cell disaster between Batista and the Undertaker.

In 2008, John Cena devastated Chris Jericho to win the WWE Title, much to the chagrin of the still anti-Cena audience. This night was also notable for a heinously booked Vladimir Kozlov/Triple H match that got exciting only when Edge appeared, and ended it quickly under triple threat rules.

Finally, in 2009, the WWE went triple threat crazy with two such affairs for each world title. Fans saw the same faces of the company fight over and over again and despite being high quality matches, there was little to motivate anyone towards continually purchasing the Survivor Series.

Had the booking been a little more savvy, people would have recognized the importance of the opening elimination match, in which three cocky heels survived to become something much more. Those three men? Drew McIntyre, The Miz and Sheamus. All of their careers would take off within the year, and each is still likely to have a world title reign or two going forward.

In February of 2010, Vince McMahon announced that the Survivor Series would be coming to an end. After an illustrious run, McMahon blamed what he believed was fans’ disinterest with the tag team format for causing low buy rates and underwhelming results. It didn’t take long for him to eat his words, as fan outrage and backlash flew fast and furious.

When the WWE reinstated Survivor Series in June, it seemed like a major victory for the event’s history and lineage. But at this point, take a look at the card and see that it is more of the same from the WWE.

-One Survivor Series elimination match.
-Two world title affairs that have been overbooked and hyped ad nauseum.
-John Cena still battling the boo birds.
-A Divas match that will likely inspire fans to hit the merchandise stands.
-Tyler Reks on the card.

If this one fails, the WWE will have no one to blame but themselves. The heights at which people have documented this particular event are dizzying, so I won’t comment too much on the situation. But seeing Survivor Series die and then have a resurrection only to be lackluster is disappointing at best. Maybe it wasn’t the fact that the original tradition has been lost, but rather the fact that it had been mismanaged from the start.

WWE added a similarly themed pay-per-view, Bragging Rights, to go on just one month previous. Two of the last five pay-per-views have been headlined with tag team elimination matches. Two of the last five televised programs have been headlined with five-on-five affairs. It feels almost as if the creative team is throwing it in the faces of the fans just to get a reaction.

The Survivor Series can survive, but as to whether or not it will, that remains the bittersweet ending to a triumphant beginning.

Balloonjump,
via ferrata,
speedflying,
paragliding and
flying with a helicopter
in 24h.

With
Heidrun Prosch,
Paul Steiner,
Hans Gasser,
Christian Amon,
Miriam and Hannes Arch


Many thanks to Heidrun and Hannes!

Cams:
Sony Nex-5
Gopro HD

Cast: Martin Szilagyi

So, obviously I never got it together to finish something resembling a season preview (argh). I'll try to summarize some of the better upcoming events on a monthly basis.


Who knows if I'll get to all of these? I wish I could!







Blueprint with soprano Marnie Breckenridge


This program includes a preview of Ensemble Parallelle's February, 2011, production of Glass's Orphée.






California Bach Society performs Purcell and Handel


Purcell's Hail! Bright Cecilia, Handel's Acis and Galatea


Paul Flight, music director; Ann Moss, soprano, Brian Thorsett, tenor






Pacific Collegium performs the Monteverdi Vespers


Really hoping to get to this despite the conflict with Urban Opera's Purcell program!


Christopher Kula, Music Director, with a chorus of Bay Area choral luminaries.


October 30, San Francisco, St. Gregory's Episcopal (presumably this is St. Gregory of Nyssa), 7:30 p.m.
October 31, Oakland, St. Paul's Episcopal,  3 p.m.


Tickets: $45/$30/$25/$15


Urban Opera performs The Witch of Endor


October 30 and 31, 4 p.m.
2325 Union Street (@Steiner), San Francisco, CA 94123

Tickets:
$50 Premium Seating (available only in advance) 
$30 General Admission 

Over the past few years WWE have released a ton of great compilations, but there’s always been one that I’ve wanted to see, that I’ve never gotten around to watching until now. That collection was Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon.

As is the custom with these releases, this set begins with a great documentary about the man, and this is by far one of the best and most emotional pieces they’ve produced.

The piece documents every aspect of his life, from his early health problems and his career as a somewhat under-sized gridiron star to his career in the professional wrestling business.

It was here where I was reminded of just how great and innovative Pillman was. At a time when wrestlers of a certain size were more or less jobber fodder, Pillman became a star, and then some.

But it wasn’t just his wrestling style that made him a star. There was also the Loose Cannon persona he developed as he moved from WCW through ECW to the WWF.

The emotional content came with the story of the car crash that almost ended his life, and the years of pain that resulted from it, forcing him to change his wrestling style, constantly fighting through the pain so he could continued to do what he loved most.

The most difficult moment to watch came when, in October 1997, Vince McMahon announced live on pay-per-view that Pillman had died at the age of 35.

The following night McMahon interviewed his wife Melanie life on Raw, a segment that was very difficult to watch, a segment that left me wondering if that was a wise move.

That being said though, this was a great way to chronicle Pillman’s life and career, but let’s not forget that these collections feature a ton of matches as well, beginning with:

Disc 1

Stampede Wrestling, April 1988: Pillman teams with Bruce Hart as Bad Company, competing against the Midnight Cowboys for the International Tag-Team titles. I have to admit I know very little about Rip Rogers and Kerry Brown’s tenure as a team.

There’s only highlights of this match, with Pillman carrying most of the load for his team and looking good while do so, before Hart got the hot tag, taking out Rogers with a clothesline for the win.

NWA, Halloween Havoc, October 1989: Pillman challenges Lex Luger for the U.S. title.

Although the Luger/Pillman feud was one of the first things I saw when I stumbled upon a German television channel, back then I never actually saw any of their matches.

Luger gets a lot of heat these days for his perceived lack of ability and psychology, but this was a very good match between two guys who only had a combined total of five years experience at the time, an entertaining back-and-forth affair.

Luger came out on top in this one, getting the pin after taking Pillman out with a stun gun-like move.

NWA, February 1990: Pillman teams with Tom Zenk against the Fabulous Freebirds, Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin, in the finals of the U.S. Tag-Team title tournament.

It’s a short and sweet encounter, with Pillman and the Z-Man giving a good account of themselves, although Hayes botches a couple of moves, including when Zenk was meant to dropkick him through the ropes.

Pillman stopped Hayes from taking out Zenk with a DDT with a flying clothesline, allowing him to get the title winning pin.

 

Disc 2

WCW, Wrestle War, February 1991: Pillman teams with Sting and the Steiner Brothers against Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Larry Zybszko and Sid Vicious in a War Games match.

This is one gimmick match that WWE should have revived long ago. Pillman started for his team, taking it to Windham and busting him open despite an injured shoulder, before Flair’s team won the coin toss to take the one man advantage, until all eight men entered the cage.

From there we had a ton of big moves, with Flair bleeding for his art again before Vicious power bombed Pillman twice, the first one looking particularly nasty.

It was then that El Gigante came to the ring and ripped the door off the cage, with the referee giving Flair and his men the win when he declared Pillman unconscious.

WCW, Halloween Havoc, October 1991: Pillman faces Richard Morton for the vacant Light Heavyweight title.

This was when Morton was part of Alexandra York’s York Foundation, a gimmick which saw the future Marlena giving her wrestlers tips from a somewhat primitive looking laptop.

The laptop wasn’t the only crazy thing here, as referee Nick Patrick wore a helmet with a camera on it, looking a total goof in the process, which didn’t do anything for the match, as most of the time we only got shots of his arm as he made a count.

It’s an entertaining back and forth encounter, although it doesn’t quite seem right seeing Morton on his own in a singles match, having made his name as one half of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express with Robert Gibson.

Pillman came out on top, winning the title after taking Morton down with a body block off the top rope.

WCW, Clash of the Champions XV, June 1991: Pillman teams with El Gigante against Arn Anderson and Barry Windham, with the loser of the fall having to leave WCW.

It’s a very quick encounter, and thankfully El Giant Goofball didn’t do much as Pillman carried the load, falling to Windham’s big boot before the pin that saw Pillman disappear and then reappear a short time later as the masked Yellow Dog.

WCW, Saturday Night, December 1992: Pillman teams with Barry Windham against Tom Zenk and Johnny Gunn.

Pillman is now a hated heel as he teams with his former foe against his former tag-team partner and his new protégé.

It’s another quick television encounter, with Zenk and Gunn looking like mirror images of each other and putting in some good work, although it’s not enough to take the heels down as they took Gunn out with a chop block/flying clothesline combination so Windham could get the pin.

WCW, Slamboree, May 1993: Pillman teams with Steve Austin as the Hollywood Blonds, defending the World Tag-Team titles against the masked Dos Hombres, aka Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas in masks and red bodysuits in a cage match.

This was a nice example of the Blonds’ work as a team. All four men used the cage to good effect, with the best spot coming when Steamboat (or Douglas) hung Austin upside down and took him out with a couple of body blocks.

The ending was a bit botched though. After Steamboat unmasked himself and took both Blondes out with a cross body off the top of the cage the timekeeper rang the bell after the Dragon went for the pin and the referee counted two.

The match continued, and normal service resumed when Austin got the pin on the future Franchise after taking him out with the Stun Gun.

WCW, Superbrawl IV, February 1994: Pillman is a beloved baby face again as he teams with Sting and Dustin Rhodes against Steve Austin, Rick Rude and Paul Orndorff in a Thundercage match.

The Thundercage itself looks like an early attempt at a Hell in a Cell. It surrounded the ringside area and was extremely tall, although it had no roof and looked a lot flimsier.

Once again, Pillman is the proverbial punching bag for his team as the heels bounced him around the ring. The two teams then make some, but not much, use of the cage before the inevitable brawl, with Sting press slamming Pillman onto Austin for the winning pin.

WCW, Nitro, September 1995: Pillman takes on his old rival, Japanese star Jushin “Thunder” Liger, on Nitro’s first-ever show.

I have to admit it’s very strange seeing two of wrestling’s biggest stars going at it in a shopping mall, but then again I’ve seen live wrestling in some very strange places over the years.

But getting back to the match, it’s a fast-paced back and forth encounter, with plenty of near falls, before Pillman got the pin with the simplest of moves, a roll-up, quite apt considering the nature of the match.

WCW Nitro, January 1996: Pillman is now in full Loose Cannon mode as he goes up against Dean Malenko.

I wish these two had been given more time. Five minutes or so for wrestlers of their pedigree just didn’t seem enough.

But they did manage to make good use of their time, with Pillman heeling it up perfectly and frustrating Malenko at every turn, before getting the pin with Malenko’s foot still tied up in the ropes.

WCW, Clash of the Champions XXXII, January 1996: Pillman faces another sadly departed star, Eddie Guerrero.

Pullman is in full loose screw mode in this rather brief encounter as he goes after commentator Bobby Heenan at one point. The Brain lets out an expletive and leaves the announcer’s table at one point, returning to his seat to see Pillman take the pin with a cross body block and handful of Guerrero’s tights.

WWF, Raw, June 1997: Pillman faces his old partner, the new “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, with his Hart Foundation cohorts handcuffed to the ring posts.

This was a great example of just why the Hart Foundation were so hot back then. It’s a tremendously heated match, with the Rattlesnake and the Loose Cannon tearing each other apart, with the referee taking a stunner for his troubles, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith eventually getting free and starting a mass brawl that soon involved Mankind, Goldust, Ken Shamrock and the Legion of Doom, which set up the next match perfectly.

WWF, In Your House: Canadian Stampede, July 1997: Pillman teams with Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith against Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and the Legion of Doom.

If there’s one thing I learned from this match is that Canadian fans are crazy. Those in attendance in Calgary for this even were rabid, one of the hottest crowds I’ve seen in my 30-plus years of watching wrestling. Of course, having the whole Hart family at ringside helped, especially when they joined in the proceedings.

Pillman was only a bit-part player in this affair, and he actually spent very little time in the ring in a match that saw both Austin and Owen taken out for a while, before both returned to the ring where Owen would pin Austin after the Rattlesnake tried to grab hold of old Stu at ringside.

Afterwards Austin got carted away by the rossers when he returned to the ring and attacked the Harts with a chair as they celebrated, before the whole Hart family celebrated before their loyal fans.

WWF, Ground Zero, September 1997: Pillman faces Goldust, with his own career and the services of his Goldust’s wife and manager Marlena on the line. This followed on from their Summerslam match when Goldust won and Pillman was forced to wear a dress until he won again.

Pillman’s last pay-per-view match is a highly charged encounter with a great deal on the line, and despite being hampered by his ongoing ankle problems Pillman lived up to his old nickname at times.

The referee took a snooze as Goldust took Pillman out with the curtain call, but as the face painted one went to revive the official Pillman foiled Marlena’s attack and knocked her old man out with her loaded purse, getting the pin as the referee came to, earning the lovely lady’s services for thirty days.

WCW, Superbrawl, February 1992: The final match goes all the way back to one of Pillman’s early encounters with Jushin Liger for the Light Heavyweight title.

This was far superior to their Nitro match, mainly because they were given twice as much time here.

There’s the usual high flying stuff from these two, mixed in with some solid ground work, with Pillman getting the win after scooping Liger’s shoulders with his feet and bridging for the pin.

In conclusion, it seems to be the case these days that we say a wrestler was truly great when they pass away at a very young age. In many instances this could be considered hyperbole.

But this isn’t the case with Brian Pillman. It’s a sad reflection of life that we only realised just how good he was after he was taken from us.

Whether it was as a high flier or as a man who blurred the line between fact and fiction, Brian Pillman was an innovator. He had the attitude before Attitude became a buzz word. He wrestled in the X Division style a decade before that term was coined.

He was someone who got the fans talking, no matter what he did, and although this collection is a few years old now, it’s the perfect example of his work.

So if you haven’t seen this yet, then Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon is definitely something you should add to your collection. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed, and you’ll come to realise just how important he was to the development of professional wrestling.

VALENCIA, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)

La Facultad de Filologia, Traducció i Comunicació de la Universitat de València acoge el VII Congreso de la Federación de Asociaciones de Germanistas de España (FAGE) entre este jueves y el sábado. El encuentro, que tiene como lema 'Performance/Performanz', ha sido organizada por la FAGE en colaboración con la Asociación Portuguesa de Germanistas, según ha informado la institución en un comunicado.

El objetivo es "estimular el análisis y el debate sobre los valores asociados a la noción de performance", que mucha presencia en campos diversos. Para ello, se propone hacerlo de la mano de especialistas como por ejemplo Sandra Umathum de Berlín, Isabel Gil de Lisboa, Michaela Wolf de Graz, Johannes Schwitalla de Würzburg, Olga Esteve de Barcelona, Wolfgang Müller-Funk de Viena, Jan-Christoph Hauschild de Düsseldorf, Marisa Siguan de Barcelona o Wolfgang Sting de Hamburgo.

El VII Congreso tendrá cinco secciones: Literatura, Estudios Culturales, Traducción, Lingüística y Alemán como lengua para fines específicos y alemán como lengua extranjera. En inglés, performance se emplea en varios campos con matices diferentes ya que se puede traducir por 'gestión', 'rendimiento', 'eficiencia', 'ejecución', 'actuación', 'acto de comunicación', entre otros.

En los estudios filológicos y traductológicos, la noción 'performance' se puede entender como "forma de comunicación multimodal, en que intervienen varios factores de manera compleja". Según la organización, la asociación a varios tipos de proceso --más que no en el resultado-- "ha comportado usos con matices bien diferentes según el ámbito en que se habla de performance, y esto también se puede observar en los estudios literarios, lingüísticos, traductológicos, culturales y didácticos de la lengua".

Estos son los cinco bloques en que se han agrupado las ponencias que se expondrán en este congreso internacional, con especialistas procedentes de España, Portugal, Alemania, Austria, Suiza, Bélgica, Países Bajos, el Reino Unido, Polonia, Rumanía, República Checa, Australia, Estados Unidos y Brasil.

Por otra parte, la Sala de la muralla del Col·legi Major Rector Peset acogerá dentro del marco del congreso, tanto jueves como viernes, la estrena mundial de la Performance-Installation Unruhige Zeiten basada en textos y cartas de Ingeborg Bachmann y Paul Celan. Se trata de una coproducción de Die Fleischerei (Viena) con el teatro árabe-israelí de Jaffa y la Universitat de València.

La dirección es de Eva Brenner, y en la representación participan Gaby Aldor y Doron Tavory. También colaboran Maija Serdar, Sybille Starkbaum, Marie Steiner y Stephanie Wächter.

La performance busca "un equivalente teatral al tema de las cartas, al paseo en la cuerda floja de quien anda por el límite y a los textos lírico-poéticos de una relación amorosa ejemplar -lo que Ingeborg Bachmann denominó 'nuestro cuento de hadas'". se trata de dos compañeros diferentes -ella, hija de un nazi y él, hijo de víctimas del Holocausto- que quieren pero no pueden encontrarse.

I'll be part of the Big Tent Christianity gathering this week in Raleigh, NC ... A friend sent this note relating the big tent approach to CS Lewis:

I was thinking this morning about CS Lewis. On the one hand Marcus Borg has identified the progression of 'conservative' to 'liberal' ideas in Lewis's thought. But that is not what I feel drawn to. Even if Lewis is the uber conservative armchair theologian that so many love and admire - his personal practice is what I am drawn to.

We tend to prop Lewis up as some sort of modern day St. Paul - dramatic conversion, prolific writer on faith etc. We also tout that he was in a writing group with JRR Tolkien. Both these men - Tolkien and Lewis -were defenders of Orthodox faith in their own way. BUT....we forget to take a look at the larger conversation they were a part of. The Inklings had more than just Lewis an Tolkien. It also consisted of people like Dorothy Sayers known for challenging Lewis on his thinking in women, Charles Williams who was influenced by sorcery and secret societies as much as he was by the Christian mystics and Owen Barfield - whose daughter Lucy was the inspiration for Lucy in the 'Narnia' books - was a lay philosopher whose work has greatly influenced many in the 'emerging cosmology' conversation and who himself was influenced by mystic and philosopher Rudolph Steiner.

My point is not that Lewis agreed with all these men or that they did not have sometimes severe disagreements of perspective, theology and application. My point is that Lewis participated in a space of feast and drink in which he and his friends gathered to hear each other, debate each other and...in the end....love each other.

It was a big tent approach.

From Sports Collectors Daily: New York Rangers’ Stanley Cup hero Mark Messier, two-time Penguins Stanley Cup champion Mario Lemieux and “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe are among the ice icons convening at Iona College on Saturday, September 25, for Steinerfest IV. Steiner Sports will present its fourth fanfest, which has grown in popularity with hockey zealots. In all, 14 hockey greats will be on hand to meet fans Iona’s Mulcahy Gym, beginning at 10:00 AM through 5 PM. Joining Messier, Lemieux and Howe, an elite trio which has amassed a staggering 6,199 total career points, will be fellow-Hall of Famers Brian Leetch, Brett Hull, Paul Coffey, Andy Bathgate, Harry Howell and Scotty Bowman, as well as past standouts Adam Graves, Ron Greschner, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios and Mike Keenan. Click here for more information.

...THE BLUES FOUNDATION ELECTS TEN TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS WITH FIVE NEW MEMBERS

The Blues Foundation, the international organization dedicated to the past, present and future of blues music, has completed its election of its Board of Directors and officers, selecting ten individuals to join the 25-person Board. Board members help to develop the vision for The Blues Foundation and acquire the resources to implement those plans. These new members join the board as The Blues Foundation investigates the possibility of a permanent home in downtown Memphis, to centralize the Foundation's educational, audio-visual and retail activities, in addition to housing staff and operations. The new board members will contribute their respective expertise in finance, marketing, consulting and development to the Foundation's efforts through 2012.

Five new members join the Board: Kathy Bolmer, KB Behavioral Healthcare, Franklin, TN; Ron Partain, Consulting Services Group, Germantown, TN; Hugh Southard, Blue Mountain Artists; Charlotte, NC; Eric Steiner, Washington Blues Society; Edmonds, WA; and Bob Trenchard, Jr., Catfood Records, El Paso, TX.

Five board members were re-elected; Gary Anton, Jostein Forsberg, Zac Harmon, Jerry "Boogie" Mason and Bill Wax. All recently-elected members will begin three-year terms on September 1, 2010.

Following the Board election, the new Board selected the following Board members to leadership positions, who will serve for one year each: President Bill Wax, Program Director of B.B. King's Bluesville on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and Vice President Eric Simonsen, a retired corporate executive and financial officer.

Additional members of the Executive Committee include: Memphis Convention and Visitor's Bureau CEO Kevin Kane, Jackson, MS performer Dorothy Moore, and Gary Anton, a Tallahassee, FL attorney and owner of Bradfordville Blues Club, In addition, Clay Purdom, an attorney with the Memphis law firm of Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston, is the Treasurer.

The newly-elected members and officers join fellow Board members Phil Barkett III, Steve Bryson, Thomas Cain, Tom Jones, Kevin Kane, Stefan Levy, Jerry Mason, Dorothy Moore, Gaynell Rogers, Thomas Ruf, Joey Sichting, Ricky Stevens, Cassie Taylor, Laurie Tucker and C. Sade Turnipseed.

In speaking about being elected as the new Board President, Bill Wax said "First let me thank the past two Board Presidents, Paul Benjamin and Pat Morgan for leaving the Foundation in such good shape. I hope over the next 12 months we can begin to make real the dream of a permanent home for the Foundation as well as get the word out about our partnership with Sound Healthcare to help more folks in the blues get health coverage."

Executive Director Jay Sieleman added "This is a stellar group with directors elected from the blues music community and the business, finance and marketing worlds. They all share a love for blues music and a commitment to aid The Blues Foundation going forward.

This past year, the Foundation celebrated the 31st annual Blues Music Awards and the 26th anniversary of the International Blues Challenge. They also announced two new programs to further assist blues musicians and those making their careers within the blues music community. Sound Healthcare offers musicians health insurance access and Generation Blues allows scholarships for youth under the age of 25 to study their instrument of choice at reputable camps, seminars and workshop programs.

The following Board members will be concluding their Board service this month Pat Morgan, Betsie Brown, and Karen McFarland.

...Blues Music on Tap Aboard the Alaska Railroad

Alaska Railroad hosts annual Blues Train to Seward

Blues band Champagne and Temporary Saint will play a live concert onboard the Alaska Railroad providing a complementing soundtrack to the scenic Chugach Forest, passing glaciers and wildlife. The special Blues Train is a tour package from the Alaska Railroad and Blues Central that runs from Anchorage to Seward on Sept. 18 and kicks off a blues weekend of dancing and dining.

Each year the Alaska Railroad wraps up its summer passenger season by partnering with Blues Central to host a music-inspired weekend onboard the train and continued in Seward. The roundtrip event begins in Anchorage at 1 p.m. delivering guests in style aboard the Alaska Railroad to Seward where the festivities continue at The Pit bar. The train returns to Anchorage on Sunday.

"It's just a fun way to unwind after a long summer," said Susie Kiger, Alaska Railroad Director of Passenger Sales and Marketing. "It's one of our most popular specialty trains with riders looking for a weekend getaway. This trip allows them to enjoy the fall colors on the scenic route between Anchorage and Seward. You don't have to be just a blues fanatic to enjoy this festive weekend."

The railroad package includes roundtrip transportation on the Alaska Railroad, an overnight stay in Seward, complimentary shuttle to participating venues, admission to live entertainment and an outdoor BBQ at The Pit. The cost is $249 per person based on double occupancy and guests must be 21 years of age or older.

For more information visit www.AlaskaRailroad.com/bluestrain. Tickets are available by calling (907) 265-2494.

The Alaska Railroad provides year-round passenger train service for a number of communities across Alaska. With summer and winter service, passenger trains run from Seward to Fairbanks.

...Stephen King takes shining to Toronto blues singer

Torontostar.com - When Nicole Christian was in Grade 5 in Rochester, N.Y., her teacher asked the students to write a letter to their hero. Christian chose horror writer Stephen King, whose books she was devouring.

“My teacher was a little miffed,” Christian says. “Everybody else was writing to world leaders and presidents.”

Remarkably, King wrote back. He thanked her “for taking the time to enjoy my work.” Christian had the letter framed and it hung in her bedroom until she left home at age 18 for the University of Toronto to study the concert flute.

Now married and living in Toronto, the 28-year-old works as a waitress in the Beaches while pursuing a career as a blues singer and songwriter. She performs around Toronto in a group called Nicole Christian and the Caravan.

A few months ago she once again wrote to King, although she felt sure he would not respond to her new request: She wanted to use his words.

A self-described “huge Stephen King fan,” Christian has read most of King’s 50-plus books, many repeatedly. “I read It, which is about 1,200 pages, every couple of years,” she says. Another favourite is Bag of Bones. “It has no cover, like a lot of my King books, because they’ve all been dragged over hell and earth.”

A central character in Bag of Bones is a blues singer who was murdered in the 1920s. King wrote some song lyrics in the book. “He would write a line and maybe 50 pages later another line, but there isn’t a complete song by him,” Christian says.

A few years ago, she got the idea to take what King had written, add her own lyrics and melody, and create a song. It took her two years to come up with the melody, which came to her one night this year while re-reading the book at a Pizza Pizza.

By May, as she was starting to work on a new CD, her third self-produced collection, she was ready to record the King-inspired song, which she called “Barn Dance.”

Then it dawned on her that she was likely violating King’s copyright. “I’d say the lyrics are 60 to 70 per cent Stephen King,” she says.

Christian searched the Internet for a way to contact King, a task that proved difficult. She finally sent a message through stephenking.com. A day later, Marsha DeFilippo, King’s assistant, replied saying that the request had been forwarded to “Steve.”

Buoyed by the quick reply, Christian began recording the song. By late June, with her money already spent laying down tracks in the studio, Christian had not heard back.

She posted another message on the fan site (it doesn’t allow direct email contact to DeFilippo) repeating her request. Once again she received an answer within 24 hours. This time, however, it came from her hero.

“She can use the words, but I don’t get the sole credit,” King wrote via DeFilippo. “She and I share, with her name first. Steve.” He didn’t request any financial compensation.

“I flipped out when I saw that,” says Christian. “All my life I grew up wanting to be a writer and now I can put on my resume that I’ve co-written a song (which can be heard here) with Stephen King!”

Click for more on Nicole Christian

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1. 
   
2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
   
3. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
   
4. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
   
5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
   
6. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
   
7. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
   
8. The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
   
9. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
   
10. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
    
11. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
    
12. 1984 by George Orwell
    
13. I, Claudius by Robert Graves
    
14. Burmese Days by George Orwell
    
15. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
    
16. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
    
17. The Warden by Anthony Trollope
    
18. The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor
    
19. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
    
20. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
    
21. A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
    
22. The Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
    
23. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
    
24. The Known World by Edward P. Jones
    
25. The Time of the Assassins by Godfrey Blunden
    
26. The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
    
27. A River Town by Thomas Keneally
    
28. Provinces of Night by William Gay
    
29. Mendelssohn Is On The Roof by Jiri Weil
    
30. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
    
31. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    
32. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
    
33. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
    
34. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    
35. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
    
36. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa
    
37. Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
    
38. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
    
39. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
    
40. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
    
41. The Odyssey by Homer
    
42. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
    
43. Treblinka by Jean-Francois Steiner
    
44. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
    
45. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
    
46. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
    
47. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
    
48. Fong and the Indians by Paul Theroux
    
49. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    
50. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
    
51. City Primeval by Elmore Leonard

EXPEDICION A HAMBURGO Hamburgo, al igual que Liverpool, tambien es una ciudad portuaria, ubicada a la orilla del rio Bajo Elba en el centro norte de Alemania, es la segunda ciudad más grande del país, y una de las más importante del mundo por su actividad portuaria, comercial, e industrial. Sin embargo, Hamburgo es más celebre por su vida nocturna. Al ser puerto franco, tambien existe el trafico de especies, entre ellas las armas. Por lo mismo han llegado mafiosos extranjeros, y circula mucho dinero. Al construirse el muro de Berlin, refugiados y delincuentes se establecen en Hamburgo. Existe la guerra de pandillas que se entrelaza con la actividad nocturna de los locales, sobretodo en St. Pauli, que tambien es el distrito donde se concentra la bohemia y la actividad artistica. El 16 de agosto el grupo, acompañados por Allan Williams y su esposa Beryl, junto a su cuñado Barry, y Lord Woodbine, emprenden rumbo a Hamburgo. George va con una caja de galletas que le ha regalado su madre para el viaje, lo cual es objeto de bromas por parte de los demás.Viajan en una vieja furgoneta Austin propiedad de Williams. En Londres los aborda Herr Steiner, un austriaco que trabaja en la cafetería Heaven & Hell de Old Compton Street, quien será el interprete ante Bruno Koschmider. Luego toman el ferry desde el puerto de Harwich, donde tienen que embarcar la camioneta, hasta Hoek Van Holland, Holanda. En el trayecto John y Stu se marean, los demás se burlan. Camino a Hamburgo; en Harwich, descanso en Arnhem En Arnhem, en las afueras de un cementerio de veteranos de guerra, deciden tomarse un descanso, Barry toma la célebre fotografía en la que John se niega a aparecer. El 17 de agosto por la tarde, The Beatles llegan a Hamburgo, se dirigen al distrito de St. Pauli, buscan la mitica calle Reeperbahn, luego el cine Bambi Kino. Conocen a Bruno Kosmider, el contrato firmado por Jacaranda Enterprises de Allan Williams y Bruno Kosmider, proporciona a éste último, un grupo musical de 5 miembros llamado The Beatles, quienes recibirán un pago de 30 marcos alemanes por noche. The Beatles creen que tocaran en el Kaiserkeller, pero se encuentran con Howie Casey de Derry And The Seniors, quien les dice que tocarán en el Indra, un local de menos categoría que el Kaiserkeller. Contrato de The Beatles con Bruno Koschmider (Se ve quemado porque el lugar se incendia) The Beatles estan completamente arruinados, comienzan a tocar ese mismo día en el Indra Club (India, en alemán), grosse Freiheit 58, Reeperbahn. Rosa, la encargada de la limpieza, les da unos marcos para que vayan al café de Harold´s a comer algo. El Indra es un lugar un tanto sórdido en una especie de barrio rojo de Hamburgo. Por las calles de St. Pauli, pululan prostitutas, borrachos, y traficantes, pero también es el barrio de pintores, músicos y toda clase de artistas de la ciudad. Tocan los siete días de la semana, de lunes a viernes 4 horas, los sábados 6 horas y los domingos 6 horas, con algunos descansos de una, y media hora. Luego comienzan a tocar 8 horas diarias, agregan a su repertorio canciones que puedan atraer a la gente, aprendiéndose las de los grupos que pasan por el mismo escenario, una vez que se van de Hamburgo, las agregan a su repertorio. Esto les da experiencia, y los refuerza como banda. 17/08/60, debut en Hamburgo en The Indra Club Bruno Koschmider les da alojamiento en el altillo de un pequeño cine llamado Bambi Filmkunstheater, 2 habitaciones compartidas, con unos rudimentarios camastros con banderas inglesas que hacen de sabanas, cerca de los baños para señora que usan para lavarse. No tienen ventanas ni calefacción, tampoco derecho a cocina. Rosa lava sus camisas y calcetines, y les sirve chocolatinas. Suelen visitar la Asociación de Marineros Británicos, donde el director Mr Hawk les convida cereales y leche. Paul recuerda: Paul: “La primera vez que fuimos a Hamburgo estuvimos allí 4 meses y medio. Es una especie de Blackpool a lo grande, pero con clubes de striptease en vez de museos de cera; miles de clubes de striptease, bares y tugurios para ligar no excesivamente pintorescos. La primera vez fue muy duro, pero nos tomamos una temporada para adaptarnos. La paga no era fabulosa, el alojamiento no era mucho mejor, y teníamos que tocar durante mucho rato.” El hecho de tocar hora tras hora rindiendo al máximo hasta quedar exhaustos, les brinda un nutrido repertorio y un consistente sonido. Comienzan a incorporar potentes números de Rock And Roll e improvisan los primeros acordes de sus propias canciones. Para no quedarse cortos con el repertorio, y para no repetir las canciones a cada rato, improvisan y tocan largos solos. A los pocos días de haber llegado a Hamburgo, y luego de un show, y una fiesta desenfrenada, George se animó a perder su virginidad: George: “Mi primer polvo fue en Hamburgo, con John, Paul, y Pete mirándome…en verdad no pudieron ver nada porque yo estaba debajo de las sabanas. Pero cuando terminé, los tres aplaudieron y gritaron”. Cuando los vence el sueño por el cansancio, y el alcohol que beben, los camareros solucionan todo convidándoles Predulín. Con esto sus shows se vuelven más intensos y salvajes, tocan sin descanso. Es su primera incursión en el mundo de las drogas. Si bien ellos son de Liverpool, una ciudad muy musical, donde hay muchas bandas. Con la experiencia alemana, su sonido se leja del de Liverpool, y el Merseybeat, Harrison declara al respecto: George: “…música gritada con sello de Hamburgo...” El considera que el duro trabajo en los escenarios de Hamburgo le da el sello a la banda. Antes de Hamburgo John y Paul son los cantantes de la banda, pero en las sesiones de 8 horas George tiene que compartir el trabajo, cuando vuelven a Inglaterra cuentan con tres vocalistas. Por entonces The Beatles conocen a Tony Sheridan y su grupo The Jets, les gusta ir a verlo porque es un músico experimentado e interpreta un excelente material de auténtico Blues. Iain Hines es el tecladista de los Blues Jets, y sale con Paul y 2 camareras. La amiga de Paul se llama Liane. Iain relata: Iain: “Cada noche cuando terminábamos de trabajar, Liane solía recogernos a las 4 de la madrugada en su estrecho auto e íbamos a su departamento a tomar café y a escuchar discos. Paul y yo poníamos discos de Elvis y The Everly mientras Liane preparaba una cena a base de hamburguesas y café.” El 19 de agosto de The Beatles son contratados para 2 meses adicionales de presentación en el Indra Club: George: “…un grupo de muchachos delgados, con chaquetas oscuras de cuero, pantalones ajustados, con pullovers negros de cuello subido, y por entonces el pelo corto pero sin peinar, causaba sensación en el Indra Club. Los alemanes querían mucho ruido y eso les dimos. Armábamos tal bullicio de la noche a la mañana, y de la mañana a la noche, que la policía alemana clausuró el Indra Club”. El hecho de tocar de noche y dormir durante el día, no les permite conocer chicas normales, por lo que los cuadros de infecciones venéreas, y la recurrencia a la penicilina son frecuentes. El dinero que ganan se gasta en poco tiempo. La alimentación es precaria, y duermen muy poco: John: “¿Cuándo íbamos a dormir, con tantas chicas, actuaciones y bebidas?”. Pete best habla algo de alemán ya que aprobó los exámenes en dicho idioma, Paul y George logran hilvanar alguna frase, Stu y John no tienen idea, ni se esfuerzan por aprender. 28 septiembre de 1960 en Harald´s Bruno Koschmider tiene que cerrar el Indra a causa de las protesta de los vecinos, ya que se ha convertido en una bulliciosa sede rockera encabezada por The Beatles. Un mes después pasan a tocar en el Kaiserkeller número 36 de Grosse Freiheit, a un ritmo de 8 horas diarias. Comparten escenario con Rory Storm & The Hurricanes quienes han llegado 3 días antes, este hecho es fortuito ya que el día 4 de octubre conocen al baterista Ringo Starr. Rory Storm & The Hurricanes es el mejor grupo de Liverpool, les va tan bien, que tienen que aplazar su llegada a Hamburgo por compromisos pendientes. El 10 de octubre Allan Williams vuelve a Hamburgo para ver cómo van las cosas. The Beatles se sienten incómodos en el escenario del Kaiserkeller que es más amplio, Koschmider le reclama a Allan, quien les pide a gritos que hagan show, que se muevan. Koschmider también los anima gritando; “Makschau!”, de ahí en más, cada vez que el grupo se tranquiliza o se notan cansados, él les grita; “Makschau!”. Por esos días John se compra su legendaria guitarra Rickenbacker 325. Cartel del Kaiserkeller Las presentaciones van mutando, primero es John quien se retuerce saltando, caricaturizando a Elvis, y Gene Vincent, luego todos. Lanzan los micrófonos e instrumentos por el escenario, fuman, beben, comen, y hasta pelean arriba del escenario. Lennon llega a aparecer en calzoncillos y con una tapa de water alrededor del cuello. Los show se hacen frenéticos, salvajes, consumen gran cantidad de alcohol y anfetaminas. El público se compone de gánsteres, trabajadores del sexo, rockeros, estudiantes, marineros, y gente de paso de distintas nacionalidades. El estar juntos todo el tiempo genera ciertas rencillas entre los integrantes del grupo. En cierta oportunidad, George y John se pelean a los gritos mientras tocan: John: “Ambos estábamos realmente furiosos, y George me tiro algo de comida a la cara. Yo le dije que le iba a romper la cabeza. Pero fueron unos cuantos gritos y nada más”. Paul: “…casi todo fue una locura, en Hamburgo bebíamos mucho. Una noche John se agarró una borrachera tremenda, pero todavía nos faltaban algunas canciones y no había manera de que reaccionara. Los demás estábamos sobrios comparados con él, nos subimos como pudimos al escenario, y él apareció en calzoncillos, con un asiento de excusado en el cuello. Fue su nueva imagen. Tuvo que cantar acostado.” Gorros militares con cruces gamadas, pasos de la oca, saludos Sieg Heil y gritando al publico: “¡Aplaudan malditos nazis! ... ¡hijos de puta!”, incitándolos a pelear y romper los muebles. Es lo que Bruno solicita con la expresión Makschau! Al público le gusta y comienzan a llegar más clientes. Es una época en la que beben mucho, y por contraposición, duermen y comen poco: John: “Cuando éramos jóvenes, solíamos movernos, saltar y hacer todo lo que la gente está haciendo ahora, como eso de subir al escenario con tazas de water y ponerse a cagar y mear. Eso es lo que nosotros hacíamos en Hamburgo, y también romper todo. No es algo que inventó Pete Townshend, es algo que tienes que hacer cuando te has pasado tocando 6 o 7 horas seguidas. Lo único que se le ocurre a uno es destruir el local e insultar a todo el mundo”. El 15 de octubre, el contrato de The Beatles se extiende hasta el 31 de diciembre. Bruno está feliz con las ganancias que reporta el grupo. El 16, Allan lleva una selección de músicos para grabar un acetato en el 57 de Kirchenalle, donde quedan los estudios de grabación Akustik. Los músicos requeridos son: Lu Walters conocido como Wally, y Ringo Star, ambos de los Hurricanes, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, y George Harrison. Graban Summertime, un demo en 78 rpm., con el nombre de Beatles & Wally. Es la primera vez que The Beatles tocan con Ringo. Un día se acerca un chico alemán atraído por el sonido de Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, después de ver el show de The Beatles queda encantado y se presenta, se trata de Klaus Voorman, un “Exis” (existencialista), pequeña comunidad de intelectuales, rivales acérrimos de los Rockers. Klaus decide volver al día siguiente, y al subsiguiente con su novia Astrid kirchherr, y Jurgen Vollmer; son un trío de jóvenes intelectuales alemanes de flequillos y jerseys de cuello largo. Luego Klaus los presenta a todos, y se van a tomar unos tragos a otro sitio. Astrid se enamora de Stuart, y es la razón por la cual éste deja al grupo más adelante, al poco tiempo son una pareja inseparable. Ella se ofrece para fotografiarlos. Astrid como fotógrafa, es de vital importancia al comienzo de la carrera de la banda. Existe una maravillosa colección de fotografías de la época sacadas en su estudio, en un parque de entretención, y más. Un día los cita en su casa para ver las fotografías, pero Stu sufre dolores de cabeza y mareos, una vez recuperado, queda fascinado con la ampliación de un autorretrato fotográfico de ella. Es notable el trabajo de la kirchherr con The Beatles en éste aspecto, las innovaciones y delicados detalles por parte de ella, nos permiten apreciar unas fotografías donde los efectos de la luz y el realce del grupo, y sus integrantes son notables. Ya aquí, podemos apreciar un trabajo de vanguardia en lo referente al manejo de la estética de un grupo de Rock. Ella daba consejos al grupo de cómo aumentar los efectos en el escenario. Es importante esta experiencia, ya que se trata de una iconografía del grupo, que merece ser considerada de culto dentro de la increíble carrera de la banda. The Beatles luego pasan a ser la banda de rock más fotografiada en la historia de la música. Algunas de las excelentes fotografías de Astrid Kirchherr Klaus Voorman por su parte, en unos años más será el diseñador de la tapa del revolucionario álbum Revolver, y en los años 90, las de los recopilatorios Anthology. También será un renombrado bajista en el grupo Manfred Mann, unido a la carrera solista de John Lennon. Stu concurre al medico, los exámenes no indican nada. Comienza el idilio entre Stuart y Astrid, Klaus Voorman sufre una gran decepción. Paul y Stuart no se llevaban muy bien, McCartney se siente desplazado en su relación con John, pero además no tolera lo mal que Stu toca el bajo. No da en las notas y le bajan el volumen para que el público no se de cuenta. Además, debido a su relación con Astrid, comienza a faltar a los conciertos debiendo ser sustituido por Paul al bajo. Una noche antes de tocar, John está bastante ebrio, y hay una chica que flirtea con él, pero antes de que se consume el acto Bruno los detiene, envía a la chica a su casa, y a John al escenario. Éste aparece con un traje de bailarina de ballet, todo el mundo se muere de la risa. John permite que Stuart cante, pero no lo hace bien, Paul bastante molesto le quita el micrófono y despotrica contra él. Una noche Stu llega a acostarse, pero encuentra que su cama está ocupada por Ritchie (Ringo). Stu muy enojado se marcha a la casa de Astrid, ella le ofrece que instale un estudio de pintura en su casa. La relación con Bruno Koschmider no dura mucho más. Cansados de las artimañas de Bruno, y las pésimas condiciones laborales, y a punto de finalizar el contrato con él, se van a otro club llamado Top Ten. Peter Eckhorn se siente encantado de contratar a la mejor banda de Hamburgo, obtienen aumento económico y mejores condiciones de vivienda. El 1 de noviembre, un tanto resentido, Bruno delata a George de que es menor de edad, tiene 17 años. El mismo día que debutan en el Top Ten, la policía llega a buscar George, debiendo deportarlo. Además, descubren que The Beatles no tienen visa de trabajo. De esta manera, un poco precipitada, concluyen los días de la primera aventura por Hamburgo. La voluntad desaparece, los muchachos se cuestionan si quieren seguir o no. No hay nada previsto a corto plazo. El 21 de noviembre George regresa a Liverpool, Stu y Astrid Lo van a dejar a la estación de trenes, George se despide llorando. Paul y Pete Best regresan luego de ser detenidos y deportados el 29 de noviembre, acusados por Bruno de intentar incendiar el cuarto donde viven en el cine Bambi, al prenderle fuego a un condón. El 30 de noviembre, The Beatles se comprometen de palabra con Peter Eckhorn para actuar en el Top Ten Club en abril próximo, luego realizan una extensa jam-session junto a Tony Sheridan. El 1 de diciembre, Paul y Pete regresan a Inglaterra luego de ser deportados. John permanece en Hamburgo hasta el 10 de diciembre, cuando decide regresar a la casa de Mimi. Stuart no quiere separarse de Astrid y se queda en Hamburgo. Jim McCartney presiona a Paul para que trabaje o estudie. Pasado unos días se reencuentran, no se desaniman. Mientras George espera cumplir la mayoría de edad, se dedican a tocar por Liverpool. Derry And The Seniors, quienes habían vuelto de Hamburgo y tocaban en The Casbah, hablan con Mona Best para que les permita tocar en su local, Mona le pregunta a Pete si los chicos estarán de acuerdo después de lo ocurrido, Pete le dice que no habrá problemas. El mismo Best invita a Chas Newby, el ex bajista de The Blackjacks para que toque el bajo provisionalmente en The Beatles durante las vacaciones de navidad. El 17 de diciembre son presentados como todo un acontecimiento, la actuación es demoledora, el éxito es rotundo. Luego, por intermedio de Mona, se reúnen en The Jacaranda con Alan Williams y Bob Woller el DJ de The Cavern, Woller se comunica con Brian Kelley, quien les da una fecha para el 27 de diciembre en el The Litherland Town Hall. En The Casbah, 17/12/60 El cambio que han experimentado asombra a la gente que los conoce, completamente afiatados y con una puesta en escena muy rockera, George se destaca con su guitarra. El 24 de diciembre se presentan en The Grosvenor Ballroom. El 27 tocan en el Litherland Town Hall, contratados por Brian Kelly, que los a perdonado por haberlo dejado plantado el 21 de mayo. Woller los presenta como directamente desde Hamburgo, el público se siente cautivado, les piden autógrafos y les preguntan si son alemanes. Rory Best los va a ver junto a Neil Aspinall, luego se los presenta a The Beatles. Brian Kelly los contrata rápidamente para 36 actuaciones más, les paga de 6 a 8 libras por presentación. Bob Wooler está encantado, les ofrece tocar en The Cavern en Mathew Street, opina que son el grupo más grande de Liverpool, y los promociona frecuentemente. El 31 de diciembre, es la última presentación con Chas Newby, quien tiene que volver a la universidad. 1961 Paul toca el bajo, usando su guitarra Rosetti con cuerdas de piano, tras la rotunda negativa de George para hacerse cargo del mismo. A principios de año comienzan a aparecer en las revistas de la ciudad con críticas muy favorables, son los primeros ecos de una futura Beatlemanía. El 5 de enero en el Litherland Town Hall, comienzan los conciertos promovidos por Brian Kelly, entre el público se encuentra Ringo Starr, quien ha llegado recientemente desde Hamburgo. El 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, y 25, se suceden las presentaciones en St. John´s Hall, Aintre Institute, Liverpool; Lathom Hall, Seaforth; The Casbah; Alexandra Hall, Crosby. El 25 de enero The Beatles son vistos por Sam Leach en The Hambleton Hall, Huyton. Las presentaciones continúan prácticamente durante todos los días, y durante meses. Bob Woller logra que Allan Sytner los contrate para presentarse en The Cavern. El 9 de febrero es la primera vez que tocan como The Beatles en The Cavern a la hora de almuerzo, de ahí en más quedaran ligados por años al legendario recinto. Stu vuelve a Liverpool por un tiempo, y John lo incorpora nuevamente a la banda, pero la mente de Sutcliffe está en Hamburgo y en Astrid. El 11 de febrero, en Cassanova Club de Sampson & Barlow´s, New Ballroom, es la primera presentación promocionada por Sam Leach. Hasta entonces, The Beatles usan el transporte público para movilizarse a sus actuaciones, pero en febrero están presentándose en 2 o 3 sitios distintos en un mismo día, por lo que necesitan un transporte propio. Pete Best le ofrece el trabajo a Neil Aspinall, quien estudia contabilidad prestando servicio en Litherland Town Hall y The Casbah, acepta y se compra una furgoneta Commer, por 80 libras. De esta manera se convierte en el road manager a tiempo parcial de The Beatles.

CORNING, N.Y. — An ultra-strong glass that has been looking for a purpose since its invention in 1962 is poised to become a multibillion-dollar bonanza for Corning Inc.

The 159-year-old glass pioneer is ramping up production of what it calls Gorilla glass, expecting it to be the hot new face of touch-screen tablets and high-end TVs.

Gorilla showed early promise in the '60s, but failed to find a commercial use, so it's been biding its time in a hilltop research lab for almost a half-century. It picked up its first customer in 2008 and has quickly become a $170 million a year business as a protective layer over the screens of 40 million-plus cell phones and other mobile devices.

Now, the latest trend in TVs could catapult it to a billion-dollar business: Frameless flat-screens that could be mistaken for chic glass artwork on a living-room wall.

Because Gorilla is very hard to break, dent or scratch, Corning is betting it will be the glass of choice as TV-set manufacturers dispense with protective rims or bezels for their sets, in search of an elegant look.

Gorilla is two to three times stronger than chemically strengthened versions of ordinary soda-lime glass, even when just half as thick, company scientists say. Its strength also means Gorilla can be thinner than a dime, saving on weight and shipping costs.

Corning is in talks with Asian manufacturers to bring Gorilla to the TV market in early 2011 and expects to land its first deal this fall. With production going full-tilt in Harrodsburg, Ky., it is converting part of a second factory in Shizuoka, Japan, to fill a potential burst of orders by year-end.

"That'll tell you something about our confidence in this," said Corning President Peter Volanakis.

Investors are taking notice. In June, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York raised Corning's projected share price, predicting Gorilla would be its second biggest business by 2015.

"There's a wide range of views on how successful this product will be," said Deutsche Bank analyst Carter Shoop. "But I think it's safe to say that, in aggregate, people are becoming much more bullish. It's a tremendous opportunity. We'll have to see how consumers react."

DisplaySearch market analyst Paul Gagnon said alternatives "obviously scratch easier, they're thicker and heavier, but they're also cheaper." He estimates that a sheet of Gorilla would add $30 to $60 to the cost of a set.

It remains to be seen "whether this becomes a hit trend that propagates to other models and sizes or remains in the confines of a premium step-up series of products," Gagnon said.

"This is a fashion trend, not a functional trend, and that's what makes (the growth rate) very hard to predict," said Volanakis. "But because the market is so large in terms of number of TVs – and the amount of glass per TV is so large – that's what can move the needle pretty quickly."

Based in western New York, Corning is the world's largest maker of glass for liquid-crystal-display computers and TVs. High-margin LCD glass generated the bulk of Corning's $5.4 billion in 2009 sales.

By ramping up volume production quickly in a budding market, Corning is pursuing a well-worn strategy designed to keep rivals from gaining ground. Its patience is also well practiced. Executives know too well the gulf between inspiration and application is sometimes decades-wide.

Corning set out in the late 1950s to find a glass as strong as steel. Dubbed Project Muscle, the effort combined heating and layering experiments and produced a robust yet bendable material called Chemcor.

Then in 1964, Corning devised an ingenious method called "fusion draw" to make super-thin, unvaryingly flat glass. It pumped hot glass into a suspended trough and allowed it to overflow and run down either side. The glass flows then meet under the trough and fuse seamlessly into a smooth, hanging sheet of glass.

To make Chemcor, Corning ran the sheets through a "tempering" process that set up internal stresses in the material. The same principle is behind the toughness of Pyrex glass, but Chemcor was tempered in a chemical bath, not by heat treatment.

Corning thought Chemcor sheets created this way would be the material of choice in car windshields, but British rival Pilkington Bros. intervened with a far cheaper mass-production approach. And another Chemcor adaptation in photochromic sunglasses also fizzled in the retail market.

Fusion draw finally proved its commercial value when Japanese electronics companies, looking for slim sheets free of alkalis that contaminate liquid crystals, turned to Corning's soda-lime LCD glass in the 1980s. Corning rapidly turned into the world's biggest supplier of LCD glass for laptops and that business blossomed around 2003 when LCD technology migrated to TVs.

In 2006, when demand surfaced for a cell phone cover glass, Corning dug out Chemcor from its database, tweaked it for manufacturing in LCD tanks, and renamed it Gorilla. "Initially, we were telling ourselves a $10 million business," said researcher Ron Stewart.

With relatively low startup costs, Gorilla should generate its first profit this year. And now that production is back on, designers are again exploring using it in unexpected places, like refrigerator doors, car sunroofs and touch-screen hotel advertising.

Among the 100-plus devices with Gorilla are Motorola Inc.'s Droid smart phone and LG Electronics' X300 notebook. Whether Apple Inc. uses the glass in its iPod is a much-discussed mystery since "not all our customers allow us to say," said Jim Steiner, general manager of Corning's specialty materials division.

Since the Civil War, Corning has turned out a glittering array of innovations from railroad signals to Pyrex and auto-pollution filters to optical fiber. Allotting 10 percent of revenue to research keeps promising projects brewing at its Sullivan Park research hub on Corning's hilly outskirts.

Optical fiber is another example of an invention that took a long time to come into its own. In 1934, chemist Frank Hyde came up with a practical method of making fused silica – an exceptionally pure glass – in bulk, yet it wasn't put to use as optical fiber until the 1970s. Once there, it helped create the Internet revolution.

In his office lobby, Steiner showed off a 400-foot-long spool of flexible, 16-inch-wide glass that's as thin as a sheet of paper.

"Kind of like Chemcor was back in the '60s," he said. "We're not sure what we're going to do with it, but it's cool, isn't it?"

For the most part, I don't read PWI anymore. The articles are filled with half kayfabe and I just find it unrealistic in today's day and age. There is one issue I due enjoy every year, and that is its annual top 500 issue. If it is one thing that this mag does right, it is this list.

The top 500 list is now officially released. So where does your favorite wrestler stack up? Well take a look below. I, myself, was happy to see AJ and Chris Jericho in the top 5. I'm not to happy with Cena being at the top, but what can ya do? At least this list always brings up fun conversation. So without any delay, here is this year's PWI top 500:

 

1. AJ Styles
2. John Cena
3. C.M. Punk
4. Randy Orton
5. Chris Jericho
6. Batista
7. Shinsuke Nakamura
8. The Undertaker
9. Kurt Angle
10. Sheamus
11. Triple H
12. The Miz
13. Rey Mysterio Jr.
14. Takashi Sugiura
15. RVD
16. Dr. Wagner Jr
17. The Big Show
18. Edge
19. Tyler Black
20. Jeff Hardy
21. Jack Swagger
22. Christian
23. Abyss
24. Ryota Hama
25. Austin Aries
26. Kofi Kingston
27. John Morrison
28. Desmond Wolfe
29. Ultimo Guerrero
30. Drew McIntyre
31. Samoa Joe
32. Davey Richards
33. Mr. Anderson
34. Ted DiBiase Jr.
35. Hirooki Goto
36. D'Angelo Dinero
37. Eddie Edwards
38. Matt Morgan
39. Hiroshi Tanahashi
40. Yoshihiro Takayama
41. Cody Rhodes
42. Mistico
43. James Storm
44. Daniel Bryan
45. Douglas Williams
46. Roderick Strong
47. Christopher Daniels
48. Mesias
49. Eric Young
50. Dolph Ziggler
51. Robert Roode
52. Naomichi Marufuji
53. Kevin Nash
54. Kevin Steen
55. R-Truth
56. Jeff Jarrett
57. Electroshock
58. Tyson Kidd
59. Montel Vontavious Porter
60. Sting
61. Adam Pearce
62. Jay Briscoe
63. Evan Bourne
64. Minoru Suzuki
65. Blue Demon Jr.
66. Matt Hardy
67. Rob Terry
68. Go Shiozaki
69. David Hart Smith
70. Satoshi Kojima
71. Hernandez
72. Cibernetico
73. Brother Devon
74. Chris Hero
75. Togi Makabe
76. Shelton Benjamin
77. Brother Ray
78. Yoshi Tatsu
79. Kane
80. Claudio Castagnoli
81. Volador Jr.
82. Takeshi Rikio
83. Dos Caras Jr.
84. JTG
85. Shad Gaspard
86. Mark Briscoe
87. Amazing Red
88. Alex Shelley
89. Mohammad Yone
90. Luke Gallows
91. La Sombra
92. Kazarian
93. Ezekiel Jackson
94. Carlito
95. Chris Sabin
96. Kenny King
97. Phil Shatter
98. BxB Hulk
99. Mark Henry
100. Heath Slater
101. Colt Cabana
102. Homicide
103. Jon Moxley
104. Averno
105. Yuji Nagata
106. Delirious
107. Magnus
108. Jerry Lynn
109. Wade Barrett
110. Naruki Doi
111. Mephisto
112. Steve Corino
113. Goldust
114. Joe Hennig
115. Masakatsu Funaki
116. Max Buck
117. Zach Ryder
118. El Generico
119. Jeremy Buck
120. Keiji Muto
121. Suwama
122. Karl Anderson
123. Rhett Titus
124. Shannon Moore
125. Primo Colon
126. William Regal
127. Yujiro
128. Erick Stevens
129. Brian Kendrick
130. The Great Khali
131. Tyson Dux
132. KENTA
133. Chessman
134. Jay Lethal
135. Orlando Jordan
136. Finlay
137. Toshiaki Kawada
138. Negro Casas
139. Rhino
140. Kensuke Sasaki
141. Justin Gabriel
142. Kenny Omega
143. Masato Tanaka
144. Paul London
145. Marco Corleone
146. Tetsuya Naito
147. Ray Gonzalez
148. La Parka
149. Joe Lider
150. Jimmy Jacobs
151. Kaz Hayashi
152. Naoya Ogawa
153. Mikal Judas
154. Trent Beretta
155. Vladimir Kozlov
156. Katsuhiko Nakajima
157. Silver King
158. CIMA
159. Caylen Croft
160. Paul Birchill
161. Chuck Taylor
162. Perro Aguayo Jr.
163. Scott Steiner
164. Brett DiBiase
165. Brent Albright
166. Extreme Tiger
167. Tajiri
168. Vance Archer
169. Sean Waltman
170. Shawn Daivari
171. Joey Ryan
172. Chris Masters
173. Tomko
174. Sami Callihan
175. Latin Lover
176. Alex Koslov
177. Chavo Guerrero
178. Sonjay Dutt
179. Felino
180. Tyler Reks
181. Jun Akiyama
182. Martin Stone
183. Pac
184. Kiyoshi
185. Manabu Nakanishi
186. Petey Williams
187. Shinjiro Otani
188. Atlantis
189. Austin Creed
190. Necro Butcher
191. Drake Brewer
192. Giant Bernard
193. Tommy Dreamer
194. Stevie Richards
195. Joe E. Legend
196. Bison Smith
197. Darren Young
198. Nicho El Millionario
199. Blue Panther
200. Jason Hades
201. Alex Riley
202. Kory Chavis
203. Arik Cannon
204. Cody Deaner
205. Jason Blade
206. Takeshi Morishima
207. David Otunga
208. Mr. Niebla
209. Kaval
210. Jack Evans
211. Jon Davis
212. Toru Yano
213. Osamu Nishimura
214. Mike Knox
215. Ryusuke Taguchi
216. Rasche Brown
217. Prince Devitt
218. Skip Sheffield
219. Ultimo Gladiator
220. Icarus
221. Shawn Spears
222. Mike Quackenbush
223. Jesse Neal
224. Teddy Hart
225. 2 Cold Scorpio
226. Gran Akuma
227. Yuko Miamoto
228. Tommaso Ciampa
229. Kohei Sato
230. Okada
231. Scott Lost
232. Hector Garza
233. Tiger Mask IV
234. Maasaki Mochizuki
235. Brodie Lee
236. Super Crazy
237. Billy Ken Kid
238. Percy Watson
239. Lince Dorado
240. Mascara Dorado
241. T.J. Cannon
242. Dragon Kid
243. Zorro
244. Ruckus
245. Drake Younger
246. Shocker
247. Raven
248. Oliver John
249. B-Boy
250. Kota Ibushi
251. El Hijo Del Santo
252. Eddie Kingston
253. N8 Mattson
254. Rocky Romero
255. Curt Hawkins
256. Cody Hawk
257. Masahiro Chono
258. B.J.
259. Jigsaw
260. Rey Bucanero
261. Koji Kanemoto
262. Johnny Devine
263. Bruce Maxwell
264. El Sensacional Carlitos
265. Akebono
266. Christopher Gray
267. Ryan Eagles
268. Sterling James Keenan
269. El Terrible
270. Ares
271. Michael Elgin
272. Sebastian Suave
273. Yamato
274. Texano Jr.
275. Tommy Taylor
276. Hallowicked
277. Vampiro
278. Mike Rollins
279. Metal Master
280. Josh Daniels
281. Dustin Cutler
282. Derek Wylde
283. Johnny Curtis
284. Nick Gage
285. Shadow Jackson
286. Brandon Cutler
287. Darrin Corbin
288. Jimmy Wang Yang
289. Quiet Storm
290. Tursas
291. Jules Uso
292. Ace Rockwell
293. Ryan Kruz
294. Pepper Parks
295. Konnan
296. Jimmy Uso
297. Sean Morley
298. Johnny Prime
299. Slam Master J
300. Glen Osbourne
301. Xtremo
302. Joey Mercury
303. Rory McAllister
304. Rob Eckos
305. Brandon Bonham
306. Mike Mondo
307. Robbie McAllister
308. Aden Chambers
309. Benjamin Boone
310. Harley Jackson
311. Prince Nana
312. Billy Bax
313. Shark Boy
314. Strongman
315. Jimmy Rave
316. Scorpio Sky
317. Jushin Liger
318. Shaun Tempers
319. Johnny Kashmere
320. Jackson Andrews
321. The Blue Meanie
322. Jimmy DeMarco
323. Dragon Rojo Jr.
324. Bo Rotundo
325. KC Kea
326. Spike Dudley
327. Dal Knox
328. Brandon Locke
329. Ron Zombie
330. Matt Cross
331. Duke Rotundo
332. Matt Walsh
333. La Mascara
334. Brad Attitude
335. Silas Young
336. TJ Perkins
337. Sangre Azteca
338. Glamour Boy Shane
339. Phil Atlas
340. Tim Donst
341. Egotistico Fantastico
342. Leo Kruger
343. Michael Tarver
344. Tommy Thunda
345. Kimo
346. Tito Colon
347. Trik Davis
348. Ryan McBride
349. J.D. Maverick
350. Santino Marella
351. Truitt Fields
352. The Sheik
353. Nicky Benz
354. L.A. Park
355. Gregory Helms
356. Frankie the Mobster
357. Sinn Bodhi
358. Hunico
359. Pat Buck
360. Mahoney
361. Jeremy Vain
362. Don Paysan
363. Johnny Gargano
364. Richie Steamboat
365. Caprice Coleman
366. Mason Ryan
367. Savio Vega
368. Charley Manson
369. Jonny Puma
370. Josh Alexander
371. T.J. Mack
372. Marshall Gambino
373. Chasyn Rance
374. Shane Haste
375. Bobby Dempsey
376. Matt Burns
377. Kirby Mack
378. Ryoji Sai
379. Danny Daniels
380. Derrick Bateman
381. Asylum
382. Kevin Grace
383. Lynx
384. Mike Tobin
385. Tank
386. Ultimo Dragon
387. Marion Fontaine
388. Zaquary Springate III
389. Matt Riviera
390. Chase Del Monte
391. Ricky Reyes
392. Kenzo Suzuki
393. Simon Sez
394. Vance Nevada
395. Joey Knight
396. Orion Bishop
397. Aero Star
398. John McChesney
399. Robin Knightwing
400. Bazooka Joe
401. Titan
402. Big E Langston
403. Damien Slater
404. Rudy Switchblade
405. Josef Von Schmidt
406. Matt Logan
407. Ricochet
408. Alex Price
409. Thumbtack Jack
410. Tyler Veritas
411. Mega
412. Scotty Mac
413. Eric Cooper
414. Kid Kash
415. Grizzly Redwood
416. Bryan Logan
417. Adam Cole
418. Nick Logan
419. Papadon
420. Breaker Morant
421. Vinny Dunn
422. Scott Zenzen
423. Bruiser Bennett
424. Steve O
425. Jake O'Reilly
426. Freak Nastty
427. Jimmy Cicero
428. Kamikaze
429. Bobby Shields
430. Hiram Tua
431. Eddie Taurus
432. Mikaze
433. Tony Stetson
434. Chris Rockwell
435. Slim J
436. Donny Marlow
437. Davey Deluxeo
438. Rudy Parker
439. Samuel Elias
440. Ernie Ballz
441. Joe Bravo
442. Robbie Gilmore
443. Ryan Sawyer
444. Wall Calrissian
445. Ananzi
446. Aaron Stevens
447. Mike Sydal
448. Alex Anthony
449. Colin Delaney
450. Cable Jones
451. Conrad Tanner
452. Wes Brisco
453. Titus O'Neil
454. Reiko DMF
455. Dan Eckos
456. Ron Falco
457. Handsome Johnny
458. Vince Beach
459. Corey Hollis
460. Tommy Mack
461. Bill Collier
462. Kwan Chang
463. Mozart Fontaine
464. Scott Chase
465. Barry Ryte
466. Crisifix
467. Don Vega
468. Steve Madison
469. Chris Black
470. Mike Posey
471. Kid America
472. Eli Cottonwood
473. Scott Wright
474. Crazzy Steve
475. J.T. Playa
476. Cameron Thomas
477. Prince Iaukea
478. Marc Mandrake
479. Ray Alexander
480. J.B. Trask
481. Rip Impact
482. Brian Millonas
483. A.J. Strokes
484. Phil Latio
485. Malachi
486. Chris Cooper
487. Primo Scordino
488. Barry Hardy
489. Hellcat
490. Shockwave the Robot
491. Robert Roma
492. Billy Gibbs
493. Steve Kruz
494. Mr. Ooh La La
495. Super Sweet
496. Brandon Thurston
497. Gabe Saint
498. Kliff Hanger
499. Peter B. Beautiful
500. Barry Wolf

Source: PWI

Additional cast and creative teams have been announced for various shows in the New York International Fringe Festival, which will play multiple venues in downtown Manhattan, August 13-29. Justin Blanchard, Paul Downs Colaizzo, Mitch Dean, Morgan Karr, Doug Kreeger, Eric Nelsen, Matt Steiner, Jesse...

In light of the whole LeBron thing, I took a break from Tomahawks or any other such attempt to make the Indians relevant at the end of the work week, but now that we’ve all had some time to remove the knife from our collective back, placed there by one of “our own” for all of the world to see, let’s attempt to move past this. With a quick reminder that it’s important to root for the front of the jersey, not the back of it, perhaps we can move past this and right into a Lazy Sunday...

Ah, who am I kidding?
Even though this is the space that you come to read about the Indians and I’m not going to pretend to provide the perfect encapsulation of the past week, I can’t help but use this Lazy Sunday platform (which was originally conceived to include all the “news that’s fit to link”) to link some of the best pieces that were out there on “The Debacle” before riding headlong into the Indians-related portion of our program.

Among MANY of the high points hit on by Bill Simmons in his pre-announcement piece was the astute observation that the way that sports media changed (perhaps forever) with this whole mess:
The way media people have been speculating in a way that seems like a cross between learned information and opinion, except we're never really sure what’s real and what’s conjecture. Thanks to Twitter and the 24/7 news cycle, the lines have been blurred completely. Chuck Klosterman thinks the true hero of the LeBron saga is Brian Windhorst, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter who cranked out articles and Tweets by the boatload -- never speculation, always facts, always backed up by sources, and there were a couple of times when he made you wonder, "Wait a second, is Windhorst hiding under a table in LeBron’s office right now?" Maybe he was.

Without question, Windhorst really did come off as the “true hero” as everyone else participating seemed to be playing a game to see who could find the lowest road to take. Not only was Windhorst setting the bar high in print (and if you haven’t seen his ground-breaking piece today, take some time out for it), he was breaking down the situation as clearly as anyone, evidenced by his appearance on Tony Rizzo’s show on WKNR on the morning of the announcement. In case you haven’t heard it and if you think that there’s nothing else that can illuminate this whole situation, just take a listen and prepare to have your mind blown.

Post-announcement, probably the best piece of the whole mess came from Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, who justifiably cast the net of blame far and wide in a piece that I have trouble disagreeing with at any point. Taking it further, we have pieces relaying personal perspective from South Euclid native Joe Posnanski (who also throws another log on the fire about something I’ve been thinking about – the danger of impetuousness in the NBA and how it relates to Dan Gilbert’s approach going forward) and Cleveland native Scott Raab, and in a broader sense from Will Leitch, who brilliantly nails the feeling that every sports fan should have had watching “The Debacle” that was Thursday night:
We are all pouring our hearts and souls into cheering for men (and women) who do not care about us, who are not like us, who are not the type of people we would ever associate with (or even meet) in real life. We deify them because it is hard to find people to deify in the real world: Sports spans every age group, ethnic group, political persuasion, and all else that serves to divide us, separate us. We cheer for athletes because sports does not matter, not really. We cheer because sports is, ultimately, harmless.

And we trust that they will at least pretend. We trust that they will recognize the ultimate ludicrousness of this whole enterprise, that these are grown men wearing tank tops, throwing a ball up and around, running on wood, that this all exists because we allow it to exist, that the illusion must be maintained. We trust that they understand how good they have it, how much we give them, against our own self-interest. We trust that they are not laughing at us.

That trust felt broken tonight...
--snip--
The fear is that we’ve truly seen the ugly, dark heart of sports, and we won’t be able to come back. It feels extremely stupid to be a sports fan. It feels pointless. None of this felt harmless tonight. And we allowed this to happen. Perhaps this is what we deserve. Perhaps this will be good for us, all of us.

All told, it was…well, it was not a good night to be a Cleveland sports fan. So when I woke up the next morning, just looking for that escape from the abomination of Thursday night, I opened my Friday PD Sports Page and attempted to read the recap of Thursday’s loss to the Rays, for a diversion, when I came across this in the “game description” from Paul Hoynes:
Strange and unexpected things keep happening in the world, but the Indians remain a safe haven. More often than not throughout their history they have consistently produced one thing -- defeat. In an ever-changing landscape, they provide us with a comforting continuity.

Seriously?
On a morning when the region feels betrayed and vulnerable, Hoynes takes THAT cheap shot at the Indians?
As the Indians’ beat writer following a team that has won 90 games in 7 of the last 15 seasons, advancing 4 times to the ALCS of further in that timeframe, Hoynes has no business inserting his little jab in and as I read him twisting the knife a quarter turn for no apparent reason, I couldn’t help but think that the manner in which Windhorst handled the whole situation and the way that Hoynes took an absurd cheap shot in the one paragraph in which he “editorialized” on this whole LeBron thing illustrates more clearly than I could ever explain why some writers become necessary and others become ancillary. If you want a shining example of the former, simply look at Anthony Castrovince’s post-announcement post that succinctly teaches a lesson and relates it to, you know, the team that he actually covers.

Off the soapbox and moving to the Trading Post, Ken Rosenthal tweeted earlier in the week that there are “multiple teams interested in Indians’ Kerry Wood” though “nothing close” as well as that there is “interest in Westbrook, less on Kearns, little on Peralta”. Obviously, I can’t imagine that the Indians picking up some of those remaining salaries could have a major impact on the attractiveness of a couple of those players (notably Westbrook and Wood) and paying the money remaining on those deals could make the Indians’ veterans that much more attractive in the next couple of weeks.

Going further on that, here’s B-Pro’s John Perrotto on Kerry Wood being an option for contenders for relievers:
Contending teams do not consider him closer-worthy but are intrigued enough to try to acquire him to help in a set-up role if the Indians eat at least part of the approximately $5 million left on his salary for this season. Among the teams believed to be interested are the Reds, Angels, Tigers, Red Sox, and Yankees.

Interestingly, Perrotto also relays that “the Indians are leaning toward hanging on to right-hander Jake Westbrook because they want the veteran to serve as anchor for their young rotation” and that may be well and good, but I’d go back to what I wrote last weekend that “perhaps the Indians are serious about approaching Westbrook about re-signing with the team for 2011 and maybe longer, but him pitching in St. Louis (or wherever) for two months isn’t going to change that possibility too profoundly.”

Want to know why?
Because teams are going to be looking for starting pitching...nearly every team close to contention will be looking for an upgrade in their rotation and once most of the bigger pieces (and more dominoes will fall after CP Lee) are no longer available, the Indians shouldn’t hesitate to move Westbrook for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Just as one example, via Craig Calcaterra at HBT (relaying a story from MLB.com), the Dodgers are looking to add “cheap” pitching, which could play right into the Indians’ hand…again, assuming they are willing to pick up some or all of Westbrook’s remaining money. Going through the other names in the linked piece, I can’t imagine that the D-Backs are willing to assume all of the cash left on Haren’s deal ($29M going forward, plus whatever is owed yet this year) or that the Astros will pick up any and all guaranteed remaining money ($18M plus the remainder of his 2010 salary) on Oswalt’s deal.

Not to continually play this up, but can we PLEASE pay the rest of Westbrooks contract so we can move him to the Dodgers for another Carlos Santana…or maybe even another Josh Bell, whom the Dodgers inexplicably gave up last year for reliever George Sherrill?

Then again, with Brad Penny experiencing a setback in his recovery, the Cardinals could be just as desperate for starting pitching, pending the results of the tests that Penny will undergo. Plus, if the Cardinals are willing to sign Mike MacDougal to a minor-league deal in an attempt to shore up their bullpen, do you think that they might also have an interest in a certain closer who used to reside in their division?

See what I’m getting at here with Westbrook and Wood?
As unattractive as they may look after a particular start or after a particular appearance, they likely represent an upgrade for some contender at some level of their rotation and bullpen and, for the stretch run, that could be a desired commodity around baseball. Granted, Westbrook and Wood are still not even a Type B Free Agents (meaning the any acquiring team would get no draft pick compensation if either leaves as a Free Agent this off-season), but the interest will come around and the Indians should deal both of them, regardless of what they’re saying now.

Of course, the first pitching domino has been felled has CP Lee will make his way to the Rangers in exchange for four prospects with the headliner being 1B Justin Smoak. Almost universally, Smoak has been identified as the “best player to be traded for Cliff Lee”, quite a feat considering that Lee’s now on his 4th team in less than a calendar year. While that certainly may be the case (that Smoak is the best player to change hands in exchange for Lee), the praise and adulation for him is certainly not universal. B-Pro’s Christina Kahrl says that “his track record as a hitting prospect has been something less than excellent, making him more of a deep purple than a true-blue prospect.” He’s 23 years old and is thought of as a Top 10 or 20 prospect in all of MLB, so there must be some fire with Smoak (see what I did there), but he also has a career .473 OPS against LHP in MiLB, so it’s not as if Smoak is the perfect prospect that some have made him out to be in a cursory glance.

There’s no question that he comes with a pedigree that can’t be matched by any player that has previously been traded for Lee and, as a quick aside, it is interesting that Fangraphs notes that “Smoak is probably better than Matt LaPorta was at the time of the Brewers acquisition of CC Sabathia in 2008, the gold standard of pitcher rental deals” which is the first time that I’ve heard the term “gold standard of pitcher rental deals” associated with a trade that was deemed a bust until…well, until Matt LaPorta started hitting upon his return from Columbus a couple of weeks back.

Back to this Lee situation and seeing the “centerpiece” being a 1B, I’m reminded of something that Ken Rosenthal recently wrote about the Diamondbacks possibly trading Dan Haren. He wrote that “a team that moves an ace under long-term control would need young starting pitching back, and such deals rarely materialize” which certainly holds some legitimacy if you look at how infrequently young starting pitching is dealt. If the Indians were targeting pitching in last year’s “Trading Season” – and they were in an attempt to create that “Layer Cake of Arms” that we’ve been talking about, even if a mid-season review of their pitching prospects is less than encouraging – perhaps it speaks to the idea that Smoak is the highest-rated prospect dealt for Lee.

Smoak certainly seems to be the key part in this deal (and color me surprised that the Mariners allegedly passed on Yankees’ prospect Jesus Montero in favor of Smoak…which only delays the inevitability of Lee going to the Bronx), but remember that the Indians did receive two arms in the Lee deal, one a perennial Top-100 prospect in Carlos Carrasco and the “key to the deal” in Jason Knapp. While Knapp still hasn’t thrown a pitch in 2010, Carrasco remains the piece that can make the Lee deal a marginal success in the next year or so, if what Jon Steiner at WFNY comes to pass:
If he can keep his MLB strikeouts and walks close to his AAA rates, and slightly cut his home run rates, he can be a sub-3.50 ERA pitcher. This was the sort of upside that the Indians’ front office likely saw when they asked that Carrasco be included in the Cliff Lee deal.

Interestingly, one of the “big names” that was supposedly on the table from the Twins was their AAA catcher Wilson Ramos and, while he was somehow universally regarded as a bona-fide top catching prospect in all of this hullabaloo, let me drop this knowledge on you…

Ramos is currently a 22-year-old backstop in AAA who was rated as the #58 prospect by Baseball America heading into the season. He’s struggled mightily at AAA this year, posting only a .208 BA / .244 OBP / .319 SLG / .563 OPS in 218 plate appearances there, but he’s still very highly regarded as a catcher (remember, he’s only 22) whose eventual chance in MLB almost certainly isn’t going to come in the Twin Cities.

Why is this relevant?
Last year, a 22-year-old catcher was traded for the services of Clifton Phifer...you may know him as Tofu Lou or simply as Lou Marson. Going into the 2009 season, the 23-year-old Marson was ranked as the #66 prospect by Baseball America and struggled somewhat in AAA while still in the Phillies' organization, posting a line of .294 BA / .382 OBP / .370 SLG / .751 OPS in the 241 PA that he accumulated prior to getting traded.

Let me put this in clearer terms:
Wilson Ramos - #58 Prospect in MLB heading into 2010
.563 OPS in AAA (218 PA) as a 22-year-old in 2010

Lou Marson - #66 Prospect in MLB heading into 2009
.751 OPS in AAA (241 PA) as a 23-year-old in 2009 prior to trade

That year makes a difference though with Ramos in AAA as a 22-year-old is more impressive than Marson being there as a 23-year-old, right?
Sure, age plays a factor in any prospect’s development...but Marson turned 23 on June 26th of 2009 while Ramos will turn 23 on August 10th of 2010. So yes, there is an age difference between the two but it's about 6 weeks, not the full year that you may think. Certainly, Marson’s performance in MLB in 2010 has colored our view of him and his capability to be an everyday MLB catcher, but Ramos is seen as what could be the centerpiece of a deal that would bring Lee to Minnesota. Obviously, I’m not attempting to pass off Lou Marson as a player that should be deemed as the centerpiece of any trade involving CP Lee, I’m only trying to provide some perspective in terms of players that were acquired by the Indians for Lee and how they relate to these names (like Ramos’) that have been bandied about as “top prospects”.

Just to keep it on this topic, Jason Donald currently has a 112 OPS+ and (not sure if you’re ready for this) but among middle infielders in the AL with more than 150 plate appearances, that would put Donald as the player with the 4th highest OPS+ behind Robbie Cano, Dustin PEDroia, and Ian Kinsler. It puts him ahead of Derek Jeter, Orlando Hudson, Howie Kendrick, Marco Scutaro on that list. The only other player that is 25 years old (other than Donald) is the Rays’ Sean Rodriguez.

His defense has been shaky at best (to be kind) and 29 K to 10 BB in 44 games is not all that encouraging, but the Indians are not quite a year removed from the Lee deal and are about to promote Carrasco to the big-league rotation (something that should have been done when Huff was sent down), Donald has shown that he should be in the mix as a middle infielder for the foreseeable future and Lou Marson remains in AAA attempting to resurrect his trade value (did you notice that he was passed over by Gimenez to replace Mike Redmond as the back-up catcher), something he’s struggled with as he’s sitting on a .618 OPS currently in Columbus.

How is that haul going to compare to the one that Seattle just received for Lee, or even the trio that made their way to Philly for Lee? Ask me in a couple of years, as Smoak comes with the highest prospect ranking attached to his name, but realizing that Andy Marte was ranked as the #11 Prospect in all of MiLB prior to 2004, as the #4 Prospect in MiLB prior to 2005, and the #14 Prospect in all of MiLB prior to 2006

Back to Jason Donald in terms of the Lee deal, the recent (and inexplicable) success of Sonny Nix begs the question of what do the Indians should do at 2B when Asdrubal Cabrera returns with Donald and Nix both playing relatively well. Terry Pluto asserts on Donald that “he will see action (along with Nix) at second base when Asdrubal Cabrera returns from his broken arm to play short in a few weeks”, but I think an easier solution exists.

While Nix is certainly a nice story and has earned playing time, let’s remember that Nix’s MLB OPS was .658 coming into the season and that his offense on the South Side was bad enough (.513 OPS) that the offensively-challenged White Sox actually cut him. Certainly, he’s benefited from everyday plate appearances in Cleveland and has earned the chance to show that he’s closer to the player he’s been in Cleveland (with his .953 OPS) than he was in years prior. However, seeing as how Nix’s career OPS in AAA is .748 and in AA is .642, one would think that a GIANT regression is somewhere on the horizon for him at the plate.

That being said, even with a offensive drop-off, I wouldn’t simply dismiss Nix out of hand and remove him from the discussion going forward as he’s earned more than that, even in his limited time. Thus, if you want the solution as to what the team could do with Nix and Donald after Cabrera returns, I think that Nix is the “bridge” who could play 3B once Peralta gets dealt (he’s played 28 of his career 139 MLB games there) or even who plays RF once Kearns gets dealt (he’s played 5 games in RF in MLB) as Nix could turn into a jack-of-all-trades very quickly for the Tribe.

Who knows where Peralta’s going to go, as AC points out, Peralta’s “.245 batting average is second-lowest among qualifying AL third basemen, while his slugging percentage (.383) and on-base percentage (.307) are third-lowest. Jayson Nix has been here two weeks and has the same number of home runs for the Tribe as Peralta does. Hard to imagine there being much of a market for Peralta’s services this summer, unless he gets extremely hot.”

While the interest may not be great in Peralta, I could see the Indians essentially pulling a Paul Byrd-for-Mickey Hall dump with him.
“A Paul Byrd-for-who”?
Exactly…

Regardless of where Jhonny goes (and it may just be to the bench if the Indians really can’t find a taker for him), if the Indians want to give Jared Goedert a shot at 3B when Peralta disappears, perhaps Nix can become that late-blooming Casey Blake-type player who fills in the gaps around the young talent while providing a solid glove, some RH pop in the lineup, and the flexibility to do exactly what Lacey Cake did (to little critical acclaim) when he established himself in the early stages of the mid-2000s rebuild/reload.

Debating Sonny Nix’s eventual role with the team going forward is where we find ourselves in mid-July as the Indians’ transformation into the young team that many thought they would look like out of Spring Training is finally gaining traction. Of course, compared to the developments across Gateway Plaza over the last week, “deciding” upon the landing spot for a 27-year-old middle infielder that was cut by a divisional rival, it actually provides a needed respite from the fallout of “The Decision”.

In light of the whole LeBron thing, I took a break from Tomahawks or any other such attempt to make the Indians relevant at the end of the work week, but now that we’ve all had some time to remove the knife from our collective back, placed there by one of “our own” for all of the world to see, let’s attempt to move past this. With a quick reminder that it’s important to root for the front of the jersey, not the back of it, perhaps we can move past this and right into a Lazy Sunday...

Ah, who am I kidding?
Even though this is the space that you come to read about the Indians and I’m not going to pretend to provide the perfect encapsulation of the past week, I can’t help but use this Lazy Sunday platform (which was originally conceived to include all the “news that’s fit to link”) to link some of the best pieces that were out there on “The Debacle” before riding headlong into the Indians-related portion of our program.

Among MANY of the high points hit on by Bill Simmons in his pre-announcement piece was the astute observation that the way that sports media changed (perhaps forever) with this whole mess:
The way media people have been speculating in a way that seems like a cross between learned information and opinion, except we're never really sure what’s real and what’s conjecture. Thanks to Twitter and the 24/7 news cycle, the lines have been blurred completely. Chuck Klosterman thinks the true hero of the LeBron saga is Brian Windhorst, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter who cranked out articles and Tweets by the boatload -- never speculation, always facts, always backed up by sources, and there were a couple of times when he made you wonder, "Wait a second, is Windhorst hiding under a table in LeBron’s office right now?" Maybe he was.

Without question, Windhorst really did come off as the “true hero” as everyone else participating seemed to be playing a game to see who could find the lowest road to take. Not only was Windhorst setting the bar high in print (and if you haven’t seen his ground-breaking piece today, take some time out for it), he was breaking down the situation as clearly as anyone, evidenced by his appearance on Tony Rizzo’s show on WKNR on the morning of the announcement. In case you haven’t heard it and if you think that there’s nothing else that can illuminate this whole situation, just take a listen and prepare to have your mind blown.

Post-announcement, probably the best piece of the whole mess came from Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, who justifiably cast the net of blame far and wide in a piece that I have trouble disagreeing with at any point. Taking it further, we have pieces relaying personal perspective from South Euclid native Joe Posnanski (who also throws another log on the fire about something I’ve been thinking about – the danger of impetuousness in the NBA and how it relates to Dan Gilbert’s approach going forward) and Cleveland native Scott Raab, and in a broader sense from Will Leitch, who brilliantly nails the feeling that every sports fan should have had watching “The Debacle” that was Thursday night:
We are all pouring our hearts and souls into cheering for men (and women) who do not care about us, who are not like us, who are not the type of people we would ever associate with (or even meet) in real life. We deify them because it is hard to find people to deify in the real world: Sports spans every age group, ethnic group, political persuasion, and all else that serves to divide us, separate us. We cheer for athletes because sports does not matter, not really. We cheer because sports is, ultimately, harmless.

And we trust that they will at least pretend. We trust that they will recognize the ultimate ludicrousness of this whole enterprise, that these are grown men wearing tank tops, throwing a ball up and around, running on wood, that this all exists because we allow it to exist, that the illusion must be maintained. We trust that they understand how good they have it, how much we give them, against our own self-interest. We trust that they are not laughing at us.

That trust felt broken tonight...
--snip--
The fear is that we’ve truly seen the ugly, dark heart of sports, and we won’t be able to come back. It feels extremely stupid to be a sports fan. It feels pointless. None of this felt harmless tonight. And we allowed this to happen. Perhaps this is what we deserve. Perhaps this will be good for us, all of us.

All told, it was…well, it was not a good night to be a Cleveland sports fan. So when I woke up the next morning, just looking for that escape from the abomination of Thursday night, I opened my Friday PD Sports Page and attempted to read the recap of Thursday’s loss to the Rays, for a diversion, when I came across this in the “game description” from Paul Hoynes:
Strange and unexpected things keep happening in the world, but the Indians remain a safe haven. More often than not throughout their history they have consistently produced one thing -- defeat. In an ever-changing landscape, they provide us with a comforting continuity.

Seriously?
On a morning when the region feels betrayed and vulnerable, Hoynes takes THAT cheap shot at the Indians?
As the Indians’ beat writer following a team that has won 90 games in 7 of the last 15 seasons, advancing 4 times to the ALCS of further in that timeframe, Hoynes has no business inserting his little jab in and as I read him twisting the knife a quarter turn for no apparent reason, I couldn’t help but think that the manner in which Windhorst handled the whole situation and the way that Hoynes took an absurd cheap shot in the one paragraph in which he “editorialized” on this whole LeBron thing illustrates more clearly than I could ever explain why some writers become necessary and others become ancillary. If you want a shining example of the former, simply look at Anthony Castrovince’s post-announcement post that succinctly teaches a lesson and relates it to, you know, the team that he actually covers.

Off the soapbox and moving to the Trading Post, Ken Rosenthal tweeted earlier in the week that there are “multiple teams interested in Indians’ Kerry Wood” though “nothing close” as well as that there is “interest in Westbrook, less on Kearns, little on Peralta”. Obviously, I can’t imagine that the Indians picking up some of those remaining salaries could have a major impact on the attractiveness of a couple of those players (notably Westbrook and Wood) and paying the money remaining on those deals could make the Indians’ veterans that much more attractive in the next couple of weeks.

Going further on that, here’s B-Pro’s John Perrotto on Kerry Wood being an option for contenders for relievers:
Contending teams do not consider him closer-worthy but are intrigued enough to try to acquire him to help in a set-up role if the Indians eat at least part of the approximately $5 million left on his salary for this season. Among the teams believed to be interested are the Reds, Angels, Tigers, Red Sox, and Yankees.

Interestingly, Perrotto also relays that “the Indians are leaning toward hanging on to right-hander Jake Westbrook because they want the veteran to serve as anchor for their young rotation” and that may be well and good, but I’d go back to what I wrote last weekend that “perhaps the Indians are serious about approaching Westbrook about re-signing with the team for 2011 and maybe longer, but him pitching in St. Louis (or wherever) for two months isn’t going to change that possibility too profoundly.”

Want to know why?
Because teams are going to be looking for starting pitching...nearly every team close to contention will be looking for an upgrade in their rotation and once most of the bigger pieces (and more dominoes will fall after CP Lee) are no longer available, the Indians shouldn’t hesitate to move Westbrook for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Just as one example, via Craig Calcaterra at HBT (relaying a story from MLB.com), the Dodgers are looking to add “cheap” pitching, which could play right into the Indians’ hand…again, assuming they are willing to pick up some or all of Westbrook’s remaining money. Going through the other names in the linked piece, I can’t imagine that the D-Backs are willing to assume all of the cash left on Haren’s deal ($29M going forward, plus whatever is owed yet this year) or that the Astros will pick up any and all guaranteed remaining money ($18M plus the remainder of his 2010 salary) on Oswalt’s deal.

Not to continually play this up, but can we PLEASE pay the rest of Westbrooks contract so we can move him to the Dodgers for another Carlos Santana…or maybe even another Josh Bell, whom the Dodgers inexplicably gave up last year for reliever George Sherrill?

Then again, with Brad Penny experiencing a setback in his recovery, the Cardinals could be just as desperate for starting pitching, pending the results of the tests that Penny will undergo. Plus, if the Cardinals are willing to sign Mike MacDougal to a minor-league deal in an attempt to shore up their bullpen, do you think that they might also have an interest in a certain closer who used to reside in their division?

See what I’m getting at here with Westbrook and Wood?
As unattractive as they may look after a particular start or after a particular appearance, they likely represent an upgrade for some contender at some level of their rotation and bullpen and, for the stretch run, that could be a desired commodity around baseball. Granted, Westbrook and Wood are still not even a Type B Free Agents (meaning the any acquiring team would get no draft pick compensation if either leaves as a Free Agent this off-season), but the interest will come around and the Indians should deal both of them, regardless of what they’re saying now.

Of course, the first pitching domino has been felled has CP Lee will make his way to the Rangers in exchange for four prospects with the headliner being 1B Justin Smoak. Almost universally, Smoak has been identified as the “best player to be traded for Cliff Lee”, quite a feat considering that Lee’s now on his 4th team in less than a calendar year. While that certainly may be the case (that Smoak is the best player to change hands in exchange for Lee), the praise and adulation for him is certainly not universal. B-Pro’s Christina Kahrl says that “his track record as a hitting prospect has been something less than excellent, making him more of a deep purple than a true-blue prospect.” He’s 23 years old and is thought of as a Top 10 or 20 prospect in all of MLB, so there must be some fire with Smoak (see what I did there), but he also has a career .473 OPS against LHP in MiLB, so it’s not as if Smoak is the perfect prospect that some have made him out to be in a cursory glance.

There’s no question that he comes with a pedigree that can’t be matched by any player that has previously been traded for Lee and, as a quick aside, it is interesting that Fangraphs notes that “Smoak is probably better than Matt LaPorta was at the time of the Brewers acquisition of CC Sabathia in 2008, the gold standard of pitcher rental deals” which is the first time that I’ve heard the term “gold standard of pitcher rental deals” associated with a trade that was deemed a bust until…well, until Matt LaPorta started hitting upon his return from Columbus a couple of weeks back.

Back to this Lee situation and seeing the “centerpiece” being a 1B, I’m reminded of something that Ken Rosenthal recently wrote about the Diamondbacks possibly trading Dan Haren. He wrote that “a team that moves an ace under long-term control would need young starting pitching back, and such deals rarely materialize” which certainly holds some legitimacy if you look at how infrequently young starting pitching is dealt. If the Indians were targeting pitching in last year’s “Trading Season” – and they were in an attempt to create that “Layer Cake of Arms” that we’ve been talking about, even if a mid-season review of their pitching prospects is less than encouraging – perhaps it speaks to the idea that Smoak is the highest-rated prospect dealt for Lee.

Smoak certainly seems to be the key part in this deal (and color me surprised that the Mariners allegedly passed on Yankees’ prospect Jesus Montero in favor of Smoak…which only delays the inevitability of Lee going to the Bronx), but remember that the Indians did receive two arms in the Lee deal, one a perennial Top-100 prospect in Carlos Carrasco and the “key to the deal” in Jason Knapp. While Knapp still hasn’t thrown a pitch in 2010, Carrasco remains the piece that can make the Lee deal a marginal success in the next year or so, if what Jon Steiner at WFNY comes to pass:
If he can keep his MLB strikeouts and walks close to his AAA rates, and slightly cut his home run rates, he can be a sub-3.50 ERA pitcher. This was the sort of upside that the Indians’ front office likely saw when they asked that Carrasco be included in the Cliff Lee deal.

Interestingly, one of the “big names” that was supposedly on the table from the Twins was their AAA catcher Wilson Ramos and, while he was somehow universally regarded as a bona-fide top catching prospect in all of this hullabaloo, let me drop this knowledge on you…

Ramos is currently a 22-year-old backstop in AAA who was rated as the #58 prospect by Baseball America heading into the season. He’s struggled mightily at AAA this year, posting only a .208 BA / .244 OBP / .319 SLG / .563 OPS in 218 plate appearances there, but he’s still very highly regarded as a catcher (remember, he’s only 22) whose eventual chance in MLB almost certainly isn’t going to come in the Twin Cities.

Why is this relevant?
Last year, a 22-year-old catcher was traded for the services of Clifton Phifer...you may know him as Tofu Lou or simply as Lou Marson. Going into the 2009 season, the 23-year-old Marson was ranked as the #66 prospect by Baseball America and struggled somewhat in AAA while still in the Phillies' organization, posting a line of .294 BA / .382 OBP / .370 SLG / .751 OPS in the 241 PA that he accumulated prior to getting traded.

Let me put this in clearer terms:
Wilson Ramos - #58 Prospect in MLB heading into 2010
.563 OPS in AAA (218 PA) as a 22-year-old in 2010

Lou Marson - #66 Prospect in MLB heading into 2009
.751 OPS in AAA (241 PA) as a 23-year-old in 2009 prior to trade

That year makes a difference though with Ramos in AAA as a 22-year-old is more impressive than Marson being there as a 23-year-old, right?
Sure, age plays a factor in any prospect’s development...but Marson turned 23 on June 26th of 2009 while Ramos will turn 23 on August 10th of 2010. So yes, there is an age difference between the two but it's about 6 weeks, not the full year that you may think. Certainly, Marson’s performance in MLB in 2010 has colored our view of him and his capability to be an everyday MLB catcher, but Ramos is seen as what could be the centerpiece of a deal that would bring Lee to Minnesota. Obviously, I’m not attempting to pass off Lou Marson as a player that should be deemed as the centerpiece of any trade involving CP Lee, I’m only trying to provide some perspective in terms of players that were acquired by the Indians for Lee and how they relate to these names (like Ramos’) that have been bandied about as “top prospects”.

Just to keep it on this topic, Jason Donald currently has a 112 OPS+ and (not sure if you’re ready for this) but among middle infielders in the AL with more than 150 plate appearances, that would put Donald as the player with the 4th highest OPS+ behind Robbie Cano, Dustin PEDroia, and Ian Kinsler. It puts him ahead of Derek Jeter, Orlando Hudson, Howie Kendrick, Marco Scutaro on that list. The only other player that is 25 years old (other than Donald) is the Rays’ Sean Rodriguez.

His defense has been shaky at best (to be kind) and 29 K to 10 BB in 44 games is not all that encouraging, but the Indians are not quite a year removed from the Lee deal and are about to promote Carrasco to the big-league rotation (something that should have been done when Huff was sent down), Donald has shown that he should be in the mix as a middle infielder for the foreseeable future and Lou Marson remains in AAA attempting to resurrect his trade value (did you notice that he was passed over by Gimenez to replace Mike Redmond as the back-up catcher), something he’s struggled with as he’s sitting on a .618 OPS currently in Columbus.

How is that haul going to compare to the one that Seattle just received for Lee, or even the trio that made their way to Philly for Lee? Ask me in a couple of years, as Smoak comes with the highest prospect ranking attached to his name, but realizing that Andy Marte was ranked as the #11 Prospect in all of MiLB prior to 2004, as the #4 Prospect in MiLB prior to 2005, and the #14 Prospect in all of MiLB prior to 2006

Back to Jason Donald in terms of the Lee deal, the recent (and inexplicable) success of Sonny Nix begs the question of what do the Indians should do at 2B when Asdrubal Cabrera returns with Donald and Nix both playing relatively well. Terry Pluto asserts on Donald that “he will see action (along with Nix) at second base when Asdrubal Cabrera returns from his broken arm to play short in a few weeks”, but I think an easier solution exists.

While Nix is certainly a nice story and has earned playing time, let’s remember that Nix’s MLB OPS was .658 coming into the season and that his offense on the South Side was bad enough (.513 OPS) that the offensively-challenged White Sox actually cut him. Certainly, he’s benefited from everyday plate appearances in Cleveland and has earned the chance to show that he’s closer to the player he’s been in Cleveland (with his .953 OPS) than he was in years prior. However, seeing as how Nix’s career OPS in AAA is .748 and in AA is .642, one would think that a GIANT regression is somewhere on the horizon for him at the plate.

That being said, even with a offensive drop-off, I wouldn’t simply dismiss Nix out of hand and remove him from the discussion going forward as he’s earned more than that, even in his limited time. Thus, if you want the solution as to what the team could do with Nix and Donald after Cabrera returns, I think that Nix is the “bridge” who could play 3B once Peralta gets dealt (he’s played 28 of his career 139 MLB games there) or even who plays RF once Kearns gets dealt (he’s played 5 games in RF in MLB) as Nix could turn into a jack-of-all-trades very quickly for the Tribe.

Who knows where Peralta’s going to go, as AC points out, Peralta’s “.245 batting average is second-lowest among qualifying AL third basemen, while his slugging percentage (.383) and on-base percentage (.307) are third-lowest. Jayson Nix has been here two weeks and has the same number of home runs for the Tribe as Peralta does. Hard to imagine there being much of a market for Peralta’s services this summer, unless he gets extremely hot.”

While the interest may not be great in Peralta, I could see the Indians essentially pulling a Paul Byrd-for-Mickey Hall dump with him.
“A Paul Byrd-for-who”?
Exactly…

Regardless of where Jhonny goes (and it may just be to the bench if the Indians really can’t find a taker for him), if the Indians want to give Jared Goedert a shot at 3B when Peralta disappears, perhaps Nix can become that late-blooming Casey Blake-type player who fills in the gaps around the young talent while providing a solid glove, some RH pop in the lineup, and the flexibility to do exactly what Lacey Cake did (to little critical acclaim) when he established himself in the early stages of the mid-2000s rebuild/reload.

Debating Sonny Nix’s eventual role with the team going forward is where we find ourselves in mid-July as the Indians’ transformation into the young team that many thought they would look like out of Spring Training is finally gaining traction. Of course, compared to the developments across Gateway Plaza over the last week, “deciding” upon the landing spot for a 27-year-old middle infielder that was cut by a divisional rival, it actually provides a needed respite from the fallout of “The Decision”.

(Kinigi, Ruanda). Es sábado por la mañana en las oficinas centrales del Parque Nacional de los Volcanes de Ruanda, y miles de personas han acudido hasta allí para un ritual que se ha convertido en una celebración nacional: poner nombre a los bebés de gorila.

En el país donde habitan un tercio de los 700 gorilas de montaña que todavía sobreviven en el planeta, este evento nacional, conocido como el "Kwita Izina", es un acto al que acuden todo tipo de celebridades para lograr atraer atención sobre la conservación medioambiental y la biodiversidad.

A la ceremonia de este año acudieron como invitados el protagonista de la película Hotel Ruanda, Don Cheadle, y el director ejecutivo del Programa Medioambiental de las Naciones Unidas, Achim Steiner. En total hubo que bautizar a 14 pequeños gorilas, que recibieron nombres en kinyarwanda como "Igihembo" (premio), "Ubuhamya" (testimonio) y "Umurage" (legado).

Agasha, un espalda plateada (macho adulto de gorila de montaña) de más de 180 kilos que convive con un grupo de unas dos docenas de primates, está acostumbrado a los humanos. Durante una hora al día se expone a las miradas de asombro y las cámaras de un grupo de hasta ocho turistas, que pagan unos 400 euros (500 dólares aproximadamente) cada uno por acceder al entorno donde habita. Para Agasha, esto quizás sea un incordio, pero al igual que los participantes en la ceremonia del Kwita Izina, estos visitantes juegan también un papel importante en su supervivencia.

La población de gorilas, amenazados por la caza furtiva y la pérdida de su hábitat, ha decrecido de manera importante en las últimas dos décadas, y quizás en un periodo de 10 a 15 años desaparezcan definitivamente de los lugares en África central -como el Congo- donde viven ahora, según un informe reciente de la ONU.

Pero los gorilas de montaña como Agasha, sin embargo, quizás logren evitar ese fatal desenlace. Esta subespecie, que se reparte fundamentalmente en las montañas Virunga y en el bosque Bwinidi en Uganda, representan menos del uno por ciento de todos los gorilas que hay en el mundo. Sin embargo, según la ONU, ésta es la única de las cuatro subespecies existentes cuyos ejemplares están aumentando.

En las montañas Virunga, un macizo que comparten Ruanda, Uganda y la República Democrática del Congo, su población ha aumentado de 250 ejemplares en 1981 a 380 en 2003, que fue cuando se realizó el último censo de gorilas de montaña. Este año está previsto que se realice un nuevo censo, y los expertos predicen que las cifras aún serán más optimistas.

“Todavía tenemos una cantidad total muy pequeña”, admite Antoine Mudakikwa, un veterinario del Panel de Desarrollo de Ruanda. “Pero seguimos observando un aumento del número de gorilas de montaña en las Virunga”.

En Ruanda, hogar de más de la mitad de los primates de las Virunga, este éxito se ha logrado gracias a patrullas anti cazadores furtivos efectivas y también a un planteamiento del Gobierno que integra turismo y conservación medioambiental.

Aunque prácticamente inexistente durante la década posterior al genocidio de 1994, el turismo es ahora la principal fuente de moneda extranjera de Ruanda. Este año, el Panel de Desarrollo de Ruanda calcula que el país acogerá unos 750.000 visitantes, de los que unos 16.000 participarán en una agotadora jornada de avistamiento de gorilas en las montañas.

Estos ingresos relacionados con los gorilas están suponiendo un fuerte pilar para el desarrollo de Ruanda y para sus esfuerzos en la conservación de la naturaleza.

Ruanda, uno de los países más densamente poblados del mundo, conserva tan sólo unos trozos de la selva tropical que un día cubrió gran parte de su territorio. Conservar lo que queda de ella, incluido el hábitat de los gorilas, chimpancés y otras especies salvajes, ha sido una de las principales prioridades del Gobierno de Paul Kagame, y se ha logrado trabajando estrechamente con quienes viven en los márgenes de esos bosques.

En las instalaciones de las montañas Virunga la mayor parte de los vigilantes, guías y porteadores proceden de los pueblos que rodean el Parque Nacional de los Volcanes. Desde 2005 el Gobierno ruandés dona el cinco por ciento de los ingresos generados en sus tres parques nacionales a proyectos que responden a las necesidades de las comunidades adyacentes, como escuelas, instalaciones sanitarias y saneamiento.

Esto ha contribuido a cambiar la actitud de la población local, que se quejaba por no poder cultivar en zonas protegidas o quemar el bosque para lograr carbón, según Mudakikwa.

“Antes las comunidades no podían entender por qué no podían usar estas tierras, especialmente cuando en Ruanda hay escasez de terreno cultivable”, explica Mudakikwa. “La gente no recibía un beneficio directo del turismo. Pero ahora todo es muy diferente, aunque todavía nos queda mucho por hacer para beneficiar a toda la gente del entorno de los parques”.

Al igual que Mudakikwa, la mayoría de los expertos creen que el modelo de conservación basado en el turismo está funcionando, pese a algunas advertencias hechas en el pasado por prominentes investigadores. Dian Fossey, la legendaria primatóloga que escribió el libro “Gorilas en la niebla”, fue durante mucho tiempo una de las voces que se alzó contra el turismo vinculado a los gorilas, argumentando que las enfermedades de los humanos podrían terminar radicalmente con la población de primates. Por este motivo, las visitas de los grupos de turistas a los gorilas se limitan a una hora al día, para evitar contagios de enfermedades humanas a los animales.

“No creo que el turismo haya sido algo perjudicial, como predijo Dian”, dice Jode Garbe, director ejecutivo de la organización no gubernamental Rwanda Wildlife Sanctuary. “La mayor parte de los turistas que vienen están en un estado de salud bastante bueno. Y los gorilas son mucho más resistentes de lo que pensamos”.

It's called Universal Wrestling Organization. The Roster that you can pick from i've made now. Male Talent: AKIRA: Booker T Bryan Danielson Brent Albright Carly Colon (Carlito Colon) Christopher Daniels Cladio Castagnoli Colt Cabana Davey Richards Eddie Edwards Eric Stevenson Jack Evans Jerry Lynn Johny Curtis Judas Mesias Kaaval Kid Kash Kenny Omega L.A Park Monster Clown Murder Clown Paul London Petey Williams Physco Clown Prince Nana Psicosis Scott Steiner Shawn Daivari Silver King Sonjay Dutt Super Crazy Tyler Black Tyson Dux Ultimo Gladiator Vampiro Yamato Female Talent: Amazing Kong AJ Lee Aksana Cheerleader Mellisa Namomi Knight Rain Sara Del Rey Sharmell PPV Names: Revolution: January Demolition: Febuary Fusion Fury: March Last Man Standing: April (gimmick PPV) Ultimate Revelation: May Final Fight: June Road of a Champion: July Party Time: August No Backing Down: September XTreme Halloween: October (Gimmick PPV on Halloween) Wrestling Elite: November (Biggest PPV for the company Flagship PPV) Conclusion to a Disolution: December Titles: UWO World Heavyweight Championship (Heavyweights Divison) UWO Northern Region Championship (Mid Card title) UWO World Tag Team Championship (Tag Team Divison) UWO Women's World Championship (Women's Divison) UWO Silver Divison Championship ( 215lbs to Lowest Weight) enjoy i'll post the first show tomorrow.

Vietnam vets John Plane, left, and Stewart Steiner advise newly unemployed Navy veteran Brandon Stanley, 25, right, about veterans' benefits at a CalVets booth at a state job fair June 11 in Citrus Heights. Plane and Steiner are among 325 veterans being hired by the state as part of the "Operation Welcome Home" program.

Every Sunday at my old church outside Boston, the list of Americans killed during the past week in Iraq and Afghanistan would be solemnly read out loud – name, age, hometown.

What always struck me most was how very young many of them were – in their teens or early 20s, their lives cut short before they fully experienced what many of us take for granted. Sitting in the pew, praying for their loved ones, I often wondered what they could have become, what difference they would have made in our world.

More than half of the servicemen and women who have died in the post-9/11 war on terror have been 18 to 24. That's more than 2,800 young people lost, and counting.

Among those who make it back alive, some have lost limbs or suffered traumatic brain injury or have post-combat stress. Since returning, a not insignificant number have committed suicide or are homeless.

And even if they're lucky enough to be relatively unscathed physically and psychologically, they're coming home to the worst economy in decades. A shockingly high number are unemployed, younger veterans in particular.

Last year, the unemployment rate for vets ages 18 to 24 in California was 25.9 percent, compared with 19.8 percent for nonveterans in that age group. That gap, for reasons officials can't explain, is greater than in the nation – 21.6 percent of young veterans jobless, compared with 19 percent of young nonveterans.

Brandon Stanley just joined the ranks of unemployed vets.

After serving three years in the Navy, he says he returned home to Vallejo in 2006 and within a month found work as an assistant manager at a sporting goods store. He moved on to a bank job, but was just let go this month and moved to the Sacramento area. Now 25, he worries about finding work to support himself and his 2-year-old son in this far tougher job market.

"When I got out, it was a challenge, but it wasn't as bad as it is now," Stanley said at a recent job fair at the state career center in Citrus Heights.

When he showed up, he was quickly greeted by John Plane and Stewart Steiner, part of CalVet Corps, an aggressive new $20 million push to help vets. Plane and Steiner, who both served in Vietnam and who both were looking for work themselves, are among 325 vets being hired by the state Employment Development Department to guide new veterans through the dizzying array of California benefits and services, which are more generous than in most other states.

The corps is a key part of "Operation Welcome Home," California's ambitious effort to help vets make the transition to civilian life. At the official kickoff ceremony this month on the deck of the USS Midway off San Diego, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described the initiative as a first-in-the-nation "one-stop shop" for returning vets he called "the best and the bravest in the world."

The CalVet Corps – 288 strong so far – is being deployed across the state to reinforce the employment department's veterans' representatives. Corps members, however, are doing far more outreach to find vets, and they're following up with each one every 30 days for six months to make sure they don't slip through the cracks.

Plane, wearing a flag tie and lapel pin, asked to see Stanley's résumé. "We can do much better with this," he told Stanley.

"If this job search doesn't go well, I'll be in your ear every day," Stanley replied. "I guess I'll find out how good this program is."

Placing vets is a hard sell

Plane, Steiner and their colleagues have a big job to do. Each year, roughly 30,000 veterans are returning to California, the most of any state. While returning vets have not been spat on or called "baby killers" as were some of their Vietnam-era peers, their transitions back into civilian life have brought their own difficulties.

There's the persistent stigma of the "invisible wounds of war." Many employers don't understand how technical and leadership skills developed in the military might translate into civilian jobs. National Guard members and reservists who get repeatedly called up return to find their jobs have disappeared.

The jobless rate for all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who served after Sept. 11 is the highest for any group of vets and rose to 14.7 percent in March, compared with the overall 9.7 percent national rate.

That's just not right – especially when you consider that the burden of fighting the wars is being borne by less than 1 percent of Americans and their families.

The all-volunteer military is disproportionately young – the typical recruit is 18, and nearly half of the active-duty force is between 17 and 24 – and from families that are working class and middle class, with household incomes between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. Some of them end up in the military because their job prospects otherwise are limited.

While they were learning how to stay alive on the dusty roads of Iraq and in remote mountain outposts in Afghanistan, many others their age were in college, gaining knowledge and credentials that give them a head start in the job market.

Some younger vets face even more challenges if they didn't have a clear direction in life when they enlisted and if most of their experience is combat-related, said Plane, 63. The trick is to convince prospective employers of the advantages of having workers with the military ethos of leadership, teamwork and discipline. "They don't tell their bosses to take a flying leap," he said.

Investing in our veterans

The United States spends far more time and money to train recruits to fight than it does to help them when they get home. With much of the nation still mired in recession, the government and corporate America need to do much more, says Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

But if there is adequate investment in veterans, he predicts, they can help lead an economic resurgence – just like the GIs who received housing, education and other assistance fueled the post-World War II boom that greatly expanded the American middle class.

"We believe this generation of young men and women can be the next 'greatest generation.' Leaders in Fallujah and Najaf can be leaders in Sacramento and San Francisco," Rieckhoff, who served as an Army first lieutenant in Iraq in 2003-04, said in a telephone interview.

His group – the first and largest nonpartisan organization for Iraq and Afghanistan vets, with more than 180,000 members – is urging Congress to make permanent the $2,400 tax credit in the stimulus package that employers get for hiring an unemployed veteran, and to strengthen job protections for reservists and Guard members who are called up.

The group is also pushing what is described as the first comprehensive approach to address veterans' unemployment. The bill, the Veterans Employment Act of 2010 (S 3234), would, among other things, establish a veterans program within the Small Business Administration to encourage entrepreneurs and would expand the Post-9/11 GI Bill to allow returning vets to use the benefit for apprenticeships and vocational education, as well as higher education.

"We cannot afford to leave our veterans behind. We cannot continue to pat them on their back for their service and then push them into the working world with no job to support their families," Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who is the primary sponsor, declared as she unveiled the bill in April. (The measure is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in early August; Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is one of 11 co-sponsors.)

"It really makes you ask," Murray continued. "'How can this be today? How can there be these heroes struggling so much when they come home?' "

That's a very good question.

Raising public awareness

Part of the problem is lack of commitment from elected officials. Murray is one of the few members of Congress deeply engaged on veterans' unemployment. Rieckhoff says President Barack Obama has been "totally mute" on the issue. Leading up to the November election, Rieckhoff wants California's candidates for U.S. Senate and governor to address veterans' issues in detail.

There's also a lack of public awareness – the issue is "totally off the radar," Rieckhoff said – something his veterans group hopes to remedy in California with a visit by its leaders, including stops at the San Diego Padres game July 4 and the Los Angeles Dodgers game July 5.

Most of us have not been asked to sacrifice much of anything for the war effort. Many of us don't know anyone who has fought.

Hiring or otherwise helping veterans make a successful return to civilian life would be one way to serve. And, it turns out, there's another opportunity just waiting out there.

"Operation Welcome Home" is starting to recruit 1,000 volunteers to help reach out to returning vets.

Veterans, too, are looking for a few good men and women.

Vietnam vets John Plane, left, and Stewart Steiner advise newly unemployed Navy veteran Brandon Stanley, 25, right, about veterans' benefits at a CalVets booth at a state job fair June 11 in Citrus Heights. Plane and Steiner are among 325 veterans being hired by the state as part of the "Operation Welcome Home" program.

Every Sunday at my old church outside Boston, the list of Americans killed during the past week in Iraq and Afghanistan would be solemnly read out loud – name, age, hometown.

What always struck me most was how very young many of them were – in their teens or early 20s, their lives cut short before they fully experienced what many of us take for granted. Sitting in the pew, praying for their loved ones, I often wondered what they could have become, what difference they would have made in our world.

More than half of the servicemen and women who have died in the post-9/11 war on terror have been 18 to 24. That's more than 2,800 young people lost, and counting.

Among those who make it back alive, some have lost limbs or suffered traumatic brain injury or have post-combat stress. Since returning, a not insignificant number have committed suicide or are homeless.

And even if they're lucky enough to be relatively unscathed physically and psychologically, they're coming home to the worst economy in decades. A shockingly high number are unemployed, younger veterans in particular.

Last year, the unemployment rate for vets ages 18 to 24 in California was 25.9 percent, compared with 19.8 percent for nonveterans in that age group. That gap, for reasons officials can't explain, is greater than in the nation – 21.6 percent of young veterans jobless, compared with 19 percent of young nonveterans.

Brandon Stanley just joined the ranks of unemployed vets.

After serving three years in the Navy, he says he returned home to Vallejo in 2006 and within a month found work as an assistant manager at a sporting goods store. He moved on to a bank job, but was just let go this month and moved to the Sacramento area. Now 25, he worries about finding work to support himself and his 2-year-old son in this far tougher job market.

"When I got out, it was a challenge, but it wasn't as bad as it is now," Stanley said at a recent job fair at the state career center in Citrus Heights.

When he showed up, he was quickly greeted by John Plane and Stewart Steiner, part of CalVet Corps, an aggressive new $20 million push to help vets. Plane and Steiner, who both served in Vietnam and who both were looking for work themselves, are among 325 vets being hired by the state Employment Development Department to guide new veterans through the dizzying array of California benefits and services, which are more generous than in most other states.

The corps is a key part of "Operation Welcome Home," California's ambitious effort to help vets make the transition to civilian life. At the official kickoff ceremony this month on the deck of the USS Midway off San Diego, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described the initiative as a first-in-the-nation "one-stop shop" for returning vets he called "the best and the bravest in the world."

The CalVet Corps – 288 strong so far – is being deployed across the state to reinforce the employment department's veterans' representatives. Corps members, however, are doing far more outreach to find vets, and they're following up with each one every 30 days for six months to make sure they don't slip through the cracks.

Plane, wearing a flag tie and lapel pin, asked to see Stanley's résumé. "We can do much better with this," he told Stanley.

"If this job search doesn't go well, I'll be in your ear every day," Stanley replied. "I guess I'll find out how good this program is."

Placing vets is a hard sell

Plane, Steiner and their colleagues have a big job to do. Each year, roughly 30,000 veterans are returning to California, the most of any state. While returning vets have not been spat on or called "baby killers" as were some of their Vietnam-era peers, their transitions back into civilian life have brought their own difficulties.

There's the persistent stigma of the "invisible wounds of war." Many employers don't understand how technical and leadership skills developed in the military might translate into civilian jobs. National Guard members and reservists who get repeatedly called up return to find their jobs have disappeared.

The jobless rate for all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who served after Sept. 11 is the highest for any group of vets and rose to 14.7 percent in March, compared with the overall 9.7 percent national rate.

That's just not right – especially when you consider that the burden of fighting the wars is being borne by less than 1 percent of Americans and their families.

The all-volunteer military is disproportionately young – the typical recruit is 18, and nearly half of the active-duty force is between 17 and 24 – and from families that are working class and middle class, with household incomes between $30,000 and $60,000 a year. Some of them end up in the military because their job prospects otherwise are limited.

While they were learning how to stay alive on the dusty roads of Iraq and in remote mountain outposts in Afghanistan, many others their age were in college, gaining knowledge and credentials that give them a head start in the job market.

Some younger vets face even more challenges if they didn't have a clear direction in life when they enlisted and if most of their experience is combat-related, said Plane, 63. The trick is to convince prospective employers of the advantages of having workers with the military ethos of leadership, teamwork and discipline. "They don't tell their bosses to take a flying leap," he said.

Investing in our veterans

The United States spends far more time and money to train recruits to fight than it does to help them when they get home. With much of the nation still mired in recession, the government and corporate America need to do much more, says Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

But if there is adequate investment in veterans, he predicts, they can help lead an economic resurgence – just like the GIs who received housing, education and other assistance fueled the post-World War II boom that greatly expanded the American middle class.

"We believe this generation of young men and women can be the next 'greatest generation.' Leaders in Fallujah and Najaf can be leaders in Sacramento and San Francisco," Rieckhoff, who served as an Army first lieutenant in Iraq in 2003-04, said in a telephone interview.

His group – the first and largest nonpartisan organization for Iraq and Afghanistan vets, with more than 180,000 members – is urging Congress to make permanent the $2,400 tax credit in the stimulus package that employers get for hiring an unemployed veteran, and to strengthen job protections for reservists and Guard members who are called up.

The group is also pushing what is described as the first comprehensive approach to address veterans' unemployment. The bill, the Veterans Employment Act of 2010 (S 3234), would, among other things, establish a veterans program within the Small Business Administration to encourage entrepreneurs and would expand the Post-9/11 GI Bill to allow returning vets to use the benefit for apprenticeships and vocational education, as well as higher education.

"We cannot afford to leave our veterans behind. We cannot continue to pat them on their back for their service and then push them into the working world with no job to support their families," Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who is the primary sponsor, declared as she unveiled the bill in April. (The measure is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in early August; Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is one of 11 co-sponsors.)

"It really makes you ask," Murray continued. "'How can this be today? How can there be these heroes struggling so much when they come home?' "

That's a very good question.

Raising public awareness

Part of the problem is lack of commitment from elected officials. Murray is one of the few members of Congress deeply engaged on veterans' unemployment. Rieckhoff says President Barack Obama has been "totally mute" on the issue. Leading up to the November election, Rieckhoff wants California's candidates for U.S. Senate and governor to address veterans' issues in detail.

There's also a lack of public awareness – the issue is "totally off the radar," Rieckhoff said – something his veterans group hopes to remedy in California with a visit by its leaders, including stops at the San Diego Padres game July 4 and the Los Angeles Dodgers game July 5.

Most of us have not been asked to sacrifice much of anything for the war effort. Many of us don't know anyone who has fought.

Hiring or otherwise helping veterans make a successful return to civilian life would be one way to serve. And, it turns out, there's another opportunity just waiting out there.

"Operation Welcome Home" is starting to recruit 1,000 volunteers to help reach out to returning vets.

Veterans, too, are looking for a few good men and women.

IT'S TIME, IT'S TIME, IT'S VADER TIME.

For those who have been following this series, I am sorry it took so long to write this one, but Vader is an interesting man and I wanted to take my time and do him justice.

Vader, Born Leon Allen White, is one of pro wrestling's more interesting characters to say the least.

White was a high school football star who was so good that he was approached by over forty colleges to come play for them. He ended up deciding on the University of Colorado where he earned All American status.

During his time in college, White earned himself a degree in Business Administration. After a successful run in college, White was drafted to the NFL to be a part of his hometown LA Rams.

During his first season he did not see much time on the field, being put on the injured reserve list. It was his second season where Leon White would find fame as he ended up playing in Superbowl XIV against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers would go on to win that night, but Leon was happy he got to play in a Superbowl at all, as most football players never make it to the big game.

It was not until a couple years later that White's interest in wrestling would peak. He was approached in a gym by someone who remembered him from his college football days. He was told to look into pro wrestling as a new career, and he did.

White cutting his teeth in the AWA (American Wrestling Association) under the names Baby Bull and Bull Power. During this time his in ring work improved so much he earned a shot at the AWA title against the legendary Stan Hansen.

In 1987 White went to Japan to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was given the name Big Van Vader after a character from Japanese folklore.

In a match with Antonio Inoki, Vader ended up causing a riot when he defeated an already battered Inoki. NJPW was banned from the Sumo arena for years due to the incident.

Vader ended up winning an 8-man tournament to crown a new NJPW World Champion.  After losing the title a month later, he began touring Europe.

After regaining the NJPW World Title, Vader went on to challenge for, and win the CWA World Title, becoming the first man to hold both titles at the same time, as well as being the first person to ever hold two World Titles from two separate companies.

Vader added another World Title to his resume when he defeated El Canek for the UWA World Title. Vader held the belt for about a year, something that is almost unheard of today.

Vader returned to Japan to face off against his old rival Stan Hansen. The two men, who are both known as being the toughest men to ever wrestle, used very stiff blows during the match, giving a more realistic effect, but what came next was almost too real.

One of Hansen's punches landed wrong and he actually caused Vader's eye to pop out of it's socket. Let that sink in for a second; his eye popped out of his socket. Proving he is one of the most bad ass men on the planet, Vader popped the eye back in and finished the match as planned.

This, along with his growing title win record, gained him acclaim in the United States, and he was eventually brought into WCW while still holding the IWGP World Title.

1990 was a great year for Vader as he regained the CWA and IWGP titles again. 

Vader began wrestling as a tag team with Bam Bam Bigelow, and the giant pair won the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Hiroshi Hase and The Great Muta, who at the time went by Kenji Mutoh.

After suffering a legit knee injury at the hands of Muta, Vader and Bigelow dropped the titles to The Steiner Brothers. After returning from injury, Vader began to focus more on his career in WCW.

Once he began appearing in WCW on a regular basis, he was given a manger. The Legendary Harley Race brought Vader straight to the top. Vader ended up defeating Sting in his second attempt to gain the WCW World Title.

Vader lost the title in a historic match. He was set to face Sting, but Sting had been attacked earlier in the night, so he was replaced by Ron Simmons. Simmons would go on to win the title becoming the first African American World Champion.

A few months later Vader regained his title from Simmons in March of 1993. After losing the title back to Sting, Vader would get it back six days later for what would be his third and final WCW World Title reign. 

During this reign, he faught the likes of The British Bulldog and Dustin Rhodes, but his feud with Cactus Jack is what would garner attention. 

Vader and Cactus had very physical matches, sometimes ending in Foley getting injured. Vader powerbombed Mick onto the concrete floor causing severe injuries to his left side.

Over the next three years Vader would go on to feud with a series of wrestlers from Davey Boy Smith to Hulk Hogan to Ric Flair.

Vader was scheduled to face Sid Viscous in a match, but Sid was released after he actually stabbed Arn Anderson while in London.

Flair was chosen as the replacement and defeated Vader after putting his career on the line.

Vader made a brief return to Japan before joining the WWF. He debuted for WWF at the 1996 Royal Rumble. Vader came out and eliminated four guys right off the bat, before being eliminated by Shawn Michaels. He returned to the ring and assaulted everyone, even throwing some of them out of the ring. The eliminations would end up not counting and HBK went on to win for the second time.

The man they call Vader began a feud with Shawn Michaels that led to a six man tag at "In Your House." Vader pinned Michaels to get the win for his team. Being managed by Jim Cornette, Vader faced Michaels for the title in a match that was restarted twice before HBK won by pinfall.

In 1997 Vader began feuding with The Undertaker. The two men faced off in a match that would see Paul Bearer betray the Taker and allow Vader to get the win. 

During that year's Royal Rumble Bret Hart eliminated Steve Austin, who was able to sneak back in due to refs being busy on the other side of the ring. Austin eliminated Vader and the Undertaker, along with Bret Hart to win the Royal Rumble.

After unsuccessfully going after the WWF title, Vader teamed with Mick Foley, who was Mankind at the time. Part of what made their team interesting was that they never agreed on anything and would end up brawling between each other during their tag matches.

After the team of Foley and Vader disbanded, he went on to have many different short term feuds with the likes of Golddust, The Hart Foundation, and Kane.

After interfering in Kane's inferno match, the two would face off in a mask vs mask match, which Vader lost.

After negotiating his release from WWE, Vader returned to Japan for a bit. During his time in Japan, Vader won the Triple Crown title—a title not held by many Americans at the time.

Vader would end up returning to the US. There he made a brief run with the newly formed TNA Wrestling, coming to the aid of Dusty Rhodes.

Vader would make one more WWE appearance before retiring from wrestling. He was in the corner of Johnathan Coachman during his match with Batista.

His last match was April 29, 2010 where he teamed with his own son to win a tag team match for Return of the Emperor.

Big Van Vader proved throughout his career that in order to be successful you just have to try your hardest. Vader never looked like the typical wrestler, but that never stopped him from dominating his opponents.

He is by far one of the toughest men to ever walk the planet. I see Vader getting a Hall of Fame induction sometime within the next five years, he certainly deserves it.

So that's it folks, let me know what you thought of the man they call Vader?

I plan on doing one final forgotten legends article so please vote for who you would like to see featured in the poll at the top.

Faced with the immensity and complexity of the Earth, people have gone to extraordinary lengths to communicate the problems facing our environment. What gave Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" its impact was partly his celebrity but in no small part the striking imagery, charts, and visual communication he used. Understanding the scale of this oil spill presents a similar challenge. Just how big is this, and how can we visualize its impact?

So far, we have several good ways to envision the damage (maps and videos, below), but we may be missing an important part of the picture by focusing on the source and on the surface.

Outlines of the oil slick's extent in the ocean can only tell us so much, so one tool allows users to overlay the oil slick on any part of the world using the Google Earth API. Paul Rademacher's simple website has gained attention from the likes of Atlantic National Correspondent James Fallows, and gives us images such as the one below, set over Boston (this blogger's home for another month).

[click to enlarge]

Using imagery like this, we can see the oil reaching across all of Massachusetts, or on Rademacher's excellent site, from Paris to the sea, or most of the length of the Hawaiian archipelago.

Other attention has been focused on BP's initial reluctance to release video it gathered using deep-sea robots of the source of the great plume that is spreading in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the last couple of days, public demands that the video be released resulted in our ability to see oil and gas rushing out of a ruptured 20-inch pipe on the ocean floor.

Finally, after the failure of an effort to stem the flow of oil using a massive metal funnel that was supposed to channel the flow into a manageable and pipeline-ready stream, we have video of the apparatus lowering onto the leak and the oil gushing out nonetheless:

What to these striking images tell us? Sure, we are better acquainted with the extent and nature of the problem. But we may be missing the point in two important ways. The first is conceptual. Just understanding how much oil is out there and how widely it is dispersed does not fill in the picture of just how destructive this event may turn out to be. To reach that kind of understanding, we depend on the vast array of coverage we're seeing on the ways past spills have affected ecosystems for decades.

The second potential folly in our understanding of the event comes from the possibility that a significant portion of the released oil hasn't made it to the surface. Dan Froomkin quotes Rick Steiner:

With a spill this deep, the oil starts off extremely dense and under pressure. Some of it breaks up or dissolves into the water on the way up, and some of it makes it all the way to the surface. But some will "stabilize in the water column" maybe as low as 200 to 300 meters off the seabed, Steiner said. "Then it starts drifting with the current."

The challenge is that most spills happen on the surface. Despite the efforts of huge numbers of experts, we just don't know how this substance is going to move and what it's going to affect in the end. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely the unforeseen effects will be positive. We can only hope for minimal negative impact and work to prevent this kind of event in the future.

Seen something really crazy today? This will blow your socks off.JUMP for both of their crazy feats.“In a James Bond kind of way, 45-year-old Paul Steiner go out of the cockpit at a hight of 1 800 m and does manoeuvre – nobody had in mind before.”“Unbelievable stunt with two gliders and a skydiver. Skydiver ...

For the Akte Blani(X) 2 project, skydiver Paul Steiner from the Red Bull Sky Dive Team and the Blanix Team complete another spectacular stunt. 2.100 meters above the ground, Steiner went out of the cockpit and walked on the wing, then transferred from one plane to the other. No belts, no tricks. Very cool!

Avusturyalı maceraperest sporcu 2100 metre yükseklikte inanılması zor bir gösteriye imza attı.

O yükseklikte bir planörden diğerine geçen sporcu kendisini izleyenleri şaşkınlık içinde bıraktı. Avusturyalı maceraperest sporcudan inanılmaz gösteri Paul Steiner isimli sporcu, tam 2100 metre yükseklikte saatte 160 kilometre hızla giden planörlerden diğerine geçti Rahat tavırlarıyla dikkat çeken sporcu o yükseklikte solunum cihazı veya ekipman kullanma ihtiyacı bile duymadı.

Paul Steiner, a 47 year-old Austrian skydiver and member of the European-based Red Bull Skydive Team, performed an unprecedented feat with the Blanix Team: 6,890 feet above the ground. Steiner opened the Blanik's cockpit and climbing to the edge of the wing, he changed planes by climbing onto another Blanik flying below at a speed of 80 miles per hour. He then stood up and formed a human connection between the aircraft by touching both of them. To disembark, Steiner jumped off of the wing and safely parachuted to the ground in Upper Styria, Austria. ( Markus Zinner/Red Bull Photofiles)...

Hat tip to Rodney’s Aviation Ramblings blog for finding and posting this very amazing and cool video sponsored by Red Bull of two gliders doing formation flying over spectacular Austrian mountain scenery. In the video, skydiver Paul Steiner manages to climb from one glider to the other to touch its rudder – you have to [...] Related posts:

1. Amazing near midair collision video
2. Gliding in the Alps in HD video
3. Briefing approach plates video

The Red Bull skydive team pulled off an amazing stunt that has to be seen to be believed.

Over 5,000 feet above the mountains of Styria, Austria, Paul Steiner climbed out of a glider flying 100mph, slid along the wing, and then somersaulted down onto the wing another glider flying below him. He then crept to the middle of that glider, stood up, and grabbed the tail fin the first glider, which was flying upside down, forming a human link between the planes.

WOW.

WATCH:

More on Video

Peter Simon, one of Britain’s most formidable retail tycoons, is to wade into the intensifying political row over proposed rises to employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions, I can reveal.

Simon, the founder and chairman of Monsoon, the high street fashion group, is among a third group of senior business figures who have agreed to back the Conservatives’ stance on proposed increases to NI which are due to come into effect next year.

His backing is significant given that Monsoon employs about 10,000 people in the UK during peak trading periods.

As I revealed earlier this evening, the new list of Tory supporters (on this issue, if not on others) includes Bob Wigley, the former chairman of Merrill Lynch’s European operations, a former director of the Court of the Bank of England, and now chairman of a number of public companies; Tim Steiner, chief executive of Ocado, the online grocer; and Nick Robertson, founder and chief executive of the successful dotcom retailer Asos.

The Conservatives have now confirmed my story from earlier and are saying they are “delighted” to have the support of such prominent figures.

My understanding is that the Shadow Chancellor wrote today to dozens of potential backers, asking them to put their names to a statement saying: “We welcome George Osborne’s plan to stop the proposed increase in National Insurance by cutting Government waste.”

The Tories were keen to stress last week that the first 23 signatories (who included Paul Walsh, the boss of Diageo, and Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks & Spencer) employed through their organisations more than 500,000 people in the UK.

The Tories’ 14 subsequent backers last week added another quarter of a million employees to that number; and my understanding is that the Tories want this third batch of names to take the cumulative total to more than 1million British taxpayers.

I should make a couple of obvious points here: some of these new names have existing ties to the Tories, so there is a more-than-passing political angle here; and by opposing the NI increase and preferring the burden to be passed on to the public sector in the form of efficiency savings, these business leaders are reflecting an element of self-interest.

That’s because an increase in employers’ NI contributions means them footing the bill – as one of the backers of the campaign put it to me this evening: “We’re not turkeys so we ain’t voting for Christmas.”

But notwithstanding this self-interest, it does cause a political headache for Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, both of whom have been insisting that the rise in NI is not business-unfriendly.

For the record, the complete list of 37 people who last week lent their names to the Tories’ publicity machine in two letters to The Daily Telegraph is as follows:

Sir Anthony Bamford (JCB); Bill Bolsover (Aggregates Industries); Dominic Burke (Jardine Lloyd Thompson); Ian Cheshire (Kingfisher); Neil Clifford (Kurt Geiger); Mick Davis (Xstrata); Aidan Harvey (Tullow Oil); Lord Harris (Carpetright); Justin King (Sainsbury's); Sir Christopher Gent (GlaxoSmithKline); Ben Gordon (Mothercare); John Lovering (Mitchells and Butler); Graham Mackay (SAB Miller); Alistair McGeorge (Matalan); Nicolas Moreau (Axa UK); Stephen Murphy (Virgin Group); Alan Parker (Whitbread); Sir Stuart Rose (Marks and Spencer); Paul Walsh (Diageo); Joseph Wan (Harvey Nichols); Simon Wolfson (Next); Zameer Choudrey (Bestway Cash and Carry); Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou (easyGroup); Paul Walker (Sage Group); Jamie Murray Wells (Glasses Direct); Anya Hindmarch; Gerald Corbett (SSL and Britvic); Sir Nigel Rudd (BAA); Philip Day (Edinburgh Woollen Mills); Ted Tuppen (Enterprise Inns); Richard Warburton (Warburton’s); John Griffin (Addison Lee); Mark Elborne (GE); Brent Hoberman (Mydeco); Simon Fox (HMV); and Ron Dennis (McLaren).

You can be sure that at Labour campaign headquarters, frantic efforts will be being made on this first day of Election 2010 to corral a gang of equally heavyweight names to defend the party’s policy on NI.

 

(Orlando, Fla.) In a shocking move, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, majority owner and chairman of publicly traded company World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) sold his wrestling promotion to Panda Energy International, the major stakeholder in rival promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

The two parties had engaged in secret negotiations in the weeks prior to Wrestlemania 26 and kept the deal shielded from the public eye. The WWE's board of directors approved the transaction at 10:32 PM EST last night and the deal is expected to be approved by the SEC and finalized later this week.

Dixie Carter, President of TNA, issued a public statement about the deal. "We would like to thank the McMahon family for being cooperative throughout the whole process. We want them to remain on board as we begin an exciting new chapter in the history of professional wrestling."

In recent years, the McMahons had reportedly grown tired of running the company. Shane McMahon resigned to pursue an endeavor in Mixed Martial Arts, Linda McMahon announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, and Stephanie McMahon became pregnant with her second set of octuplets.

The company was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). It shortened the name to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. In 2002, as a result of legal troubles with the World Wildlife Foundation, the company became known by its present name, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Panda Energy expects to change the brand's name to the National Extreme World Championship Wrestling Federation of Honor (NEWCWFH). This brand will have a five-sided ring and its own show on the Food Network.

There have been numerous controversies within the company throughout the years, especially regarding steroids and the health of its performers. There has been speculation that the new owners will harden its stance on the use of performance enhancing drugs.

"We will create a leadership council made up of top talent from both promotions," said Jeff Jarrett. "This council will be responsible for setting up rules and regulations regarding drug use. They will monitor behavior and report any violations to ownership." So far, it has been reported that Sean Waltman, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio Jr, Scott Hall and Scott Steiner will lead the council.

It is also expected that TNA will integrate WWE wrestlers into a storyline where the WWE  invades "The Impact Zone" and try to take it over. It is expected that team WWE will be led by A.J. Styles, Sting, Kurt Angle, Hornswoggle, and John Cena. Cena, the former WWE champion, lost his title to Ric Flair in a double retirement match at the WWE's last house show.

Ric Flair incidentally was happier than anyone about the purchase. There had been a great deal of tension between Flair and McMahon dating back to Flair's stinct as co-owner of the then World Wrestling Federation. In 2001, Flair led a consortium of investors who purchased 50 percent of WWF's controlling shares. This led to a violent street fight between Flair and McMahon which was captured on tape at the 2002 Royal Rumble.

Later on, Flair was defeated in a winner-take-all match and was forced to sell his share of the WWE back to McMahon. This led to the supreme court case (Flair vs. McMahon) where the nation's highest court decided, 7-2, that Brock Lesnar F5ing Flair during the match, did not constitute a material breach of contract.

Though reaction around the WWE locker room has been mostly positive, not all of its superstars are happy. Paul Levesque, who wrestled under the moniker Triple H, sharply criticized the company's new owners. "TNA continuously engages in nepotism," said Levesque. "The Jarretts constantly give themselves world titles and they and refuse to put over the young guys."

To alleviate Levesque's fears of being held back, they plan on having him form a group with John Morrison, Awesome Kong, and Verne Troyer, who starred as "Mini-Me" in the Austin Powers Series. They hope that this completely original stable can entertain viewers with humorous PG segments.

The business world has taken particular interest in this deal. Free from the responsibility of running a wrestling company, Vince McMahon is trying to start his own Curling League, The XCL (Xtreme Curling League). The league, expected to compete directly against Olympic Curling by 2014, will combine smashmouth hardcore curling with miscellaneous shots of half-naked Curlers in the women's locker room.

It has also been reported that readers of the Bleacher Report have been tapping their feet impatiently, waiting for the inevitable...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A P R I L  F O O L S ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Spring is almost here and with it comes the birth of many new things, including the new The Age of Conversation III, which is scheduled to be released in April. I am honored to ahve been selected as a contributing author with an esteemed group of incredible thinkers, writers and thought leaders. All of them are active in a variety of areas, working across industries on the "bleeding edge" of social media. That's why this will be a great book for anyone looking to practically implement social tools into next-generation customer management. Here's a list of contributing authors and links to each!
 

Adam Joseph	Priyanka Sachar	Mark Earls
Cory Coley-Christakos	Stefan Erschwendner	Paul Hebert
Jeff De Cagna	Thomas Clifford	Phil Gerbyshak
Jon Burg	Toby Bloomberg	Shambhu Neil Vineberg
Joseph Jaffe	Uwe Hook	Steve Roesler
Michael E. Rubin	anibal casso	Steve Woodruff
Steve Sponder	Becky Carroll	Tim Tyler
Chris Wilson	Beth Harte	Tinu Abayomi-Paul
Dan Schawbel	Carol Bodensteiner	Trey Pennington
David Weinfeld	Dan Sitter	Vanessa DiMauro
Ed Brenegar	David Zinger	Brett T. T. Macfarlane
Efrain Mendicuti	Deb Brown	Brian Reich
Gaurav Mishra	Dennis Deery	C.B. Whittemore
Gordon Whitehead	Heather Rast	Cam Beck
Hajj E. Flemings	Joan Endicott	Cathryn Hrudicka
Jeroen Verkroost	Karen D. Swim	Christopher Morris
Joe Pulizzi	Leah Otto	Corentin Monot
Karalee Evans	ME!	David Berkowitz
Kevin Jessop	Lesley Lambert	Duane Brown
Peter Korchnak	Mark Price	Dustin Jacobsen
Piet Wulleman	Mike Maddaloni	Ernie Mosteller
Scott Townsend	Nick Burcher	Frank Stiefler
Steve Olenski	Rich Nadworny	John Rosen
Tim Jackson	Suzanne Hull	Len Kendall
Amber Naslund	Wayne Buckhanan	Mark McGuinness
Caroline Melberg	Andy Drish	Oleksandr Skorokhod
Claire Grinton	Angela Maiers	Paul Williams
Gary Cohen	Armando Alves	Sam Ismail
Gautam Ramdurai	B.J. Smith	Tamera Kremer
Eaon Pritchard	Brendan Tripp	Adelino de Almeida
Jacob Morgan	Casey Hibbard	Andy Hunter
Julian Cole	Debra Helwig	Anjali Ramachandran
Jye Smith	Drew McLellan	Craig Wilson
Karin Hermans	Emily Reed	David Petherick
Katie Harris	Gavin Heaton	Dennis Price
Mark Levy	George Jenkins	Doug Mitchell
Mark W. Schaefer	Helge Tenno	Douglas Hanna
Marshall Sponder	James Stevens	Ian Lurie
Ryan Hanser	Jenny Meade	Jeff Larche
Sacha Tueni & Katherine Maher	David Svet	Jessica Hagy
Simon Payn	Joanne Austin-Olsen	Mark Avnet
Stanley Johnson	Marilyn Pratt	Mark Hancock
Steve Kellogg	Michelle Beckham-Corbin	Michelle Chmielewski
Amy Mengel	Veronique Rabuteau	Peter Komendowski
Andrea Vascellari	Timothy L Johnson	Phil Osborne
Beth Wampler	Amy Jussel	Rick Liebling
Eric Brody	Arun Rajagopal	Dr Letitia Wright
Hugh de Winton	David Koopmans	Aki Spicer
Jeff Wallace	Don Frederiksen	Charles Sipe
Katie McIntyre	James G Lindberg & Sandra Renshaw	David Reich
Lynae Johnson	Jasmin Tragas	Deborah Chaddock Brown
Mike O'Toole	Jeanne Dininni	Iqbal Mohammed
Morriss M. Partee	Katie Chatfield	Jeff Cutler
Pete Jones	Riku Vassinen	Jeff Garrison
Kevin Dugan	Tiphereth Gloria	Mike Sansone
Lori Magno	Valerie Simon	Nettie Hartsock
Mark Goren		Peter Salvitti

I'm excited to read all the fabulous insightsin this book... carrying forward the tradition from two greatly successful editions. Stay tuned for more!

Coming in mid-April is volume 3 of Age of Conversation, this year's edition is subtitled 'It's time to get busy'.

I managed to get it together to provide a chapter for this years edition, I'll preview that closer to release time.

I 'm proud to be between the same covers as the esteemed group of contributers listed below, and thanks to Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton who put in the hard work in making it happen, again.

Adam Joseph Priyanka Sachar Mark Earls Cory Coley-Christakos Stefan Erschwendner Paul Hebert Jeff De Cagna Thomas Clifford Phil Gerbyshak Jon Burg Toby Bloomberg Shambhu Neil Vineberg Joseph Jaffe Uwe Hook Steve Roesler Michael E. Rubin anibal casso Steve Woodruff Steve Sponder Becky Carroll Tim Tyler Chris Wilson Beth Harte Tinu Abayomi-Paul Dan Schawbel Carol Bodensteiner Trey Pennington David Weinfeld Dan Sitter Vanessa DiMauro Ed Brenegar David Zinger Brett T. Macfarlane Efrain Mendicuti Deb Brown Brian Reich Gaurav Mishra Dennis Deery C.B. Whittemore Gordon Whitehead Heather Rast Cam Beck Hajj E. Flemings Joan Endicott Cathryn Hrudicka Jeroen Verkroost Karen D. Swim Christopher Morris Joe Pulizzi Leah Otto Corentin Monot Karalee Evans Leigh Durst David Berkowitz Kevin Jessop Lesley Lambert Duane BrownPeter Korchnak Mark Price Dustin Jacobsen Piet Wulleman Mike Maddaloni Ernie Mosteller Scott Townsend Nick Burcher Frank Stiefler Steve Olenski John Rosen Tim Jackson Suzanne Hull Len Kendall Amber Naslund Wayne Buckhanan Mark McGuinness Caroline Melberg Andy Drish Oleksandr Skorokhod Claire Grinton Angela Maiers Paul Williams Gary Cohen Armando Alves Sam Ismail Gautam Ramdurai B.J. Smith Tamera KremerEaon Pritchard Brendan Tripp Adelino de Almeida Jacob Morgan Casey Hibbard Andy Hunter Julian Cole Debra Helwig Anjali Ramachandran Jye Smith Drew McLellan Craig Wilson Karin Hermans Emily Reed David Petherick Katie Harris Gavin Heaton Dennis Price Mark Levy George Jenkins Doug Mitchell< Mark W. Schaefer Helge Tenno Douglas Hanna Marshall Sponder James Stevens Ian Lurie Ryan Hanser Jenny Meade Jeff Larche Sacha Tueni and Katherine Maher David Svet Jessica Hagy Simon Payn Joanne Austin-Olsen Mark Avnet Stanley Johnson Marilyn Pratt Mark Hancock Steve Kellogg Michelle Beckham-Corbin Michelle Chmielewski Amy Mengel Veronique Rabuteau Peter Komendowski Andrea Vascellari Timothy L Johnson Phil Osborne Beth Wampler Amy Jussel Rick Liebling Eric Brody Arun Rajagopal Dr Letitia Wright Hugh de Winton David Koopmans Aki Spicer Jeff Wallace Don Frederiksen Charles Sipe Katie McIntyre James G Lindberg Sandra Renshaw David Reich Lynae Johnson Jasmin Tragas Deborah Chaddock Brown Mike O'Toole Jeanne Dininni Iqbal Mohammed Morriss M. Partee Katie Chatfield Jeff Cutler Pete Jones Riku Vassinen Jeff Garrison Kevin Dugan Tiphereth Gloria Mike Sansone Lori Magno Valerie Simon Nettie Hartsock Mark Goren Peter Salvitti

For many Americans, "terrorism" is an anthropological term meaning dark foreigners. They might be surprised to learn that it was how a U.S. Senate committee once described corporate America's tactics to crush labor unions.

Social documentarian Leo Hurwitz reenacted findings from that official body — the La Follette Senate Civil Liberties Committee — in his 1942 feature film, Native Land. The hybrid documentary raised the specter of fascism and called exploited workers to action. Narrated by Paul Robeson and co-directed by Paul Strand, it's now seen as an early waypost of progressive filmmaking in this country, and whether you're gainfully employed or a jobless statistic, you can catch it at an Anthology Film Archives series saluting Hurwitz and his peers.Titled "Leo Hurwitz and the New York School of Documentary Film," the retrospective will unfold March 10-19, 2010, at Anthology's shrine to indie/avant-garde filmmaking in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.Following the crowd was never Hurwitz's way. Leading was, and arguably the Brooklyn-born son of a Russian socialist shook up the documentary narrative more than most. Yet he was in fine company with fellow filmmakers Strand, Willard Van Dyke, Ralph Steiner, Sidney Meyers and later pariah Elia Kazan, among others. Seeded by Robert Flaherty and Pare Lorentz, the New York School marked a second generation of American media frontiersmen who would bushwhack the way for the TV documentary and next for the flowering of non-fiction filmmaking in the 1960s and 70s.Anthology begins its look back with modern documentary's 11-year gestation period, from 1931 to 1942. It continues on through Hurwitz’s hounded productions of the McCarthyite 1950s (when Kazan "named names") along with his contribution to cinéma vérité and the more artistically driven, less political films of his later career.Exposing what forces spurred reactionary elements toward a taste for red meat, a collective of left-liberal photographers, filmmakers and critics came together in 1930 under the aegis of the Film and Photo League. Anthology's roundup of their shorts and newsreels includes Detroit Workers News Special 1932: Ford Massacre and two works about national hunger marches, photographed from the perspective of the marchers.Depression breadlines, Hoovervilles and labor unrest are chronicled here not only as a social document, but also as a way of rallying audiences of workers who otherwise might not grasp the scope of the economic debacle and class tensions. "When you put your hand in your pocket and you can touch your total savings, your life is revealed as not the private thing it seemed before. It becomes connected with others who share your problem," as Hurwitz is quoted saying in William Alexander's book, Film on the Left.Agit-prop filmmaking also united the Nykino group, which Hurwitz split from the Film and Photo League to co-found with Steiner and Irving Lerner. A segment called "Nykino and American Documentary Film in the Thirties" showcases such films as Fred Zinnemann and Strand's docudrama about a fishermen’s strike in Mexico, The Wave, and Steiner's irreverent poke at religion and poverty, Pie in the Sky (featuring loopy antics by Kazan and Group Theater colleagues)."American Documentary Film in the Thirties" clusters some of the decade's most poetic work. It opens with Lorentz's The Plow that Broke the Plains, which laments the Dust Bowl — arable land sold out for a quick buck — and plugs the green-minded policies of the New Deal. Strand, Steiner and Hurwitz contributed cinematography alongside images by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, and Virgil Thompson composed the score. Lorentz's next film, The River, may be better known (it's not included in the series), but Washington-funded The Plow had the distinction of being the first motion picture to enter the Congressional archives.Valley Town, by Van Dyke shares Anthology's 30s marquee; its study of steelworker's family thrust into poverty when automation eliminates jobs holds up as one the most searing portraits of that hard knocks era.

In 1936 Hurwitz joined with Strand and fellow travelers in founding Frontier Films, the first nonprofit documentary production company in the U.S. Its politically committed slate debuted with Heart of Spain, Hurwitz's half-hour film about the Spanish Civil War. Heart of Spain will be shown in part one of two Frontier Film blocs. It's followed by China Strikes Back, which marked two more firsts: footage both of Mao Tse-Tung at his Yenan base and of the Chinese Communist army; and a dialectical approach to editing that not only became emblematic of Frontier Films but also fashioned a long-lingering sensibility in the art form.

Native Land was Frontier Films' swansong. In "After Frontier Films," Anthology pays tribute to a 1948 feature entitled Strange Victory, the only production of Hurwitz's subsequent shingle. The documentary, which dissected post-War racism and complacency in the U.S, won awards at the Karlovy-Vary and Venice Film Festivals.

In the 50's and 60's, while blacklisted, the Harvard-educated Lefty continued to make independent films and, with Life magazine photographer Fons Iannelli as his "front," co-produced, directed and edited a number of segments for CBS's "Omnibus" magazine show. Emergency Ward gives a sampling in "The Pre-history of Cinéma Vérite." After pocketing Emmy and Peabody awards for directing Verdict for Tomorrow about the 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, Hurwitz produced several feature-length films for National Educational Television, including Essay on Death: A Memorial to John F. Kennedy. Rather than rehash the all-too-familiar details of the President's assassination, Hurwitz took art, literature and such actors as Christopher Plummer to plumb the meaning of death. The film will unspool in one of three "Hurwitz in the Sixties" spotlights, as will his other artsy NET productions, The Sun and Richard Lippold and In Search of Hart Crane.Anthology audiences will find mostly short works in this New York School series, however, Dialogue with a Woman Departed stands to test their bladders. A four-hour epic collage dedicated to Hurwitz's late second wife and co-worker, Peggy Lawson, it was shot over eight years in the 70s. It was his last major production, and it earned him an International Film Critics Prize in 1981.Hurwitz's seminal short, The Scottsboro Boys, about the 1931 trial of nine black teens falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama, is absent from the Anthology lineup. Yet for a bit of Hurwitz trivia told by Tom Hurwitz (who assisted Anthology in mounting the exhibition), his father redirected his energy to the Scottsboro project after reaching out to Charlie Chaplin to no avail.Had the silent comic come through, the New York voice of Leo Hurwitz — and the generations he influenced — may have sounded different. The resonance it achieved fills 10 days that will shake your documentary world.By Laura Blum 

Do you remember the 2003 action crime thriller S.W.A.T. directed by Clark Johnson, starring Colin Farrell, Samuel L Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Michelle Rodriguez? Yeah, me neither. Well the film made Sony over $200 million in worldwide box office receipts, which is apparently enough to warrant a sequel. Columbia Pictures, Original Film, and producer Neal Moritz have apparently hired Next Day Air director Benny Boom to helm the sequel. The film, titled S.W.A.T.: Fire-Fight, already has a screenplay written by Reed Steiner, a television writer/produceer on Nash Bridges, The District, The Shield, Invasion, and NCIS. The sequel will follow LAPD Lieutenant Paul Cutler, who is transferred to a SWAT team in Detroit and "finds himself the target of a homicidal genius who is protected by government officials." I'm guessing this is a direct-to-dvd sequel, but I'm not 100% positive. All we know is that production is set to begin in April ...

Here is an unofficial list of players who are set to become unrestricted free agents March 5, unless they re-sign with their current teams or retire before then. Based on the assumption that no Collective Bargaining Agreement is signed before March 5, players must have six years of accredited NFL service to qualify for unrestricted free agency in an uncapped year.

2010 UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
Seasons	Club	Player	Pos	2009 starts	Current agent
10	Arizona	Becht, Anthony	TE	10	Rosenhaus, Drew
9	Arizona	Beisel, Monty	ILB	0	Price, Charles A.
12	Arizona	Berry, Bert	OLB	5	Flanagan, Anthony Emerson
7	Arizona	Bridges, Jeremy	G	4	Cook, James A.
10	Arizona	Brown, Ralph	CB	1	Capra, Patrick
6	Arizona	Dansby, Karlos	ILB	16	France, Todd E.
9	Arizona	Gandy, Mike	T	12	Dogra, R.K. Ben
10	Arizona	Kreider, Dan	FB	3	Bauer, Frank
7	Arizona	Morey, Sean	WR	0	Clohisy, Michael B.
11	Arizona	Okeafor, Chike	OLB	13	Simms, Andrew E.
10	Arizona	Rackers, Neil	K	0	Roche, Robert S.
13	Arizona	Robinson, Bryan	NT	15	Bartelstein, Mark
6	Arizona	St. Pierre, Brian	QB	0	Smith, Rick E.
6	Arizona	Ware, Matt	SS	1	Unknown
11	Atlanta	Booker, Marty	WR	1	Brothers, Raymond
7	Atlanta	Gilbert, Tony	MLB	0	France, Todd E.
6	Atlanta	Haynes, Verron	RB	2	Bolar, Robert Terry
7	Atlanta	Redman, Chris	QB	2	Branion, Joby
11	Atlanta	Schneck, Mike	LS	0	Sheehy, Paul R.
10	Atlanta	Stecker, Aaron	RB	0	Slavin, Ronald Benson
8	Atlanta	Williams, Brian	CB	5	Feagan, Jordan
10	Atlanta	Zelenka, Joe	LS	0	Sharbaugh, Vern G.
8	Baltimore	Bannan, Justin	DT	2	Mills, Thomas H.
6	Baltimore	Edwards, Dwan	DE	9	Bauer, Frank
7	Baltimore	Ivy, Corey	CB	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
13	Baltimore	Mason, Derrick	WR	16	Smith, Lamont
7	Baltimore	Smith, L.J.	TE	0	Mackler, Brian
7	Baltimore	Tyree, David	WR	0	Clouser, Mark
7	Baltimore	Walker, Frank	CB	1	Murtha, Frank J.
7	Baltimore	Washington, Kelley	WR	2	Speck, Chad
8	Buffalo	Denney, Ryan	DE	0	Lock, Ethan
11	Buffalo	Draft, Chris	OLB	3	Strickland, Vernon M.
7	Buffalo	Johnson, Todd	SS	0	Schaffer, Peter J.
8	Buffalo	McKinney, Seth	C	1	Cindrich, Ralph E.
14	Buffalo	Owens, Terrell	WR	16	Rosenhaus, Drew
8	Buffalo	Reed, Josh	WR	4	Dogra, R.K. Ben
7	Buffalo	Scott, Bryan	SS	9	Johnson, Edward G.
8	Buffalo	Simmons, Kendall	G	3	Metz, Eric
6	Buffalo	Stamer, Josh	OLB	0	Lattinville, Robert H.
7	Carolina	Brayton, Tyler	DE	15	Mills, Thomas H.
9	Carolina	Feeley, A.J.	QB	0	Dunn, David L.
8	Carolina	McCown, Josh	QB	0	McCartney, Michael S.
14	Carolina	Muhammad, Muhsin	WR	13	Segal, Joel G.
8	Carolina	Peppers, Julius	DE	14	Carey, Carl Edward
14	Carolina	Thomas, Hollis	DT	13	Bauer, Michael R.
9	Carolina	Vincent, Keydrick	G	16	Branion, Joby
8	Carolina	Wesley, Dante	CB	0	Hicks, Russel V.
6	Chicago	McClover, Darrell	OLB	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
9	Chicago	Ogunleye, Adewale	DE	14	Rosenhaus, Drew
8	Chicago	Peterson, Adrian	RB	0	Kremer, Kendall
7	Chicago	Tinoisamoa, Pisa	OLB	2	Sullivan, Michael F.
9	Cincinnati	Graham, Shayne	K	0	Dunn, David L.
7	Cincinnati	Johnson, Jeremi	FB	8	Schaffer, Peter J.
6	Cincinnati	Johnson, Larry	RB	7	Schaffer, Peter J.
6	Cincinnati	Johnson, Tank	DT	13	Unknown
11	Cincinnati	Kelly, Reggie	TE	0	Sexton, James E.
10	Cincinnati	Williams, Bobbie	G	16	Agnone, Anthony J.
8	Cincinnati	Williams, Roy	SS	4	Woy, Jordan
7	Cleveland	Furrey, Mike	WR	4	Unknown
6	Cleveland	Gaines, Michael	TE	7	Agnone, Anthony J.
6	Cleveland	Hadnot, Rex	G	6	Rickert, John W.
8	Cleveland	Poteat, Hank	CB	2	Levy, Brian M.
13	Cleveland	Tucker, Ryan	G	0	Coletta, Joseph M.
6	Cleveland	Yates, Billy	G	0	Bass, George A.
7	Dallas	Holland, Montrae	G	0	Feinsod, Jonathan
13	Denver	Berger, Mitch	P	0	Dunn, David L.
7	Denver	Fox, Vernon	SS	0	Self
8	Denver	Gorin, Brandon	T	1	Linta, Joseph Michael
8	Denver	Greisen, Nick	OLB	0	Leshnock, Brad
9	Denver	Hamilton, Ben	G	8	Schaffer, Peter J.
9	Denver	Hochstein, Russ	G	10	Linta, Joseph Michael
12	Denver	Holliday, Vonnie	DE	3	Fabrikant, Cary Mark
15	Denver	Law, Ty	CB	2	Poston, Kevin D.
7	Denver	Lloyd, Brandon	WR	1	Humenik, Mark
7	Detroit	Ciurciu, Vinny	OLB	0	Schaffer, Peter J.
6	Detroit	Cook, Damion	G	0	Unknown
11	Detroit	Culpepper, Daunte	QB	5	Self
7	Detroit	Fitzsimmons, Casey	TE	1	Hoven, J. Daniel
8	Detroit	Foote, Larry	MLB	14	Levy, Brian M.
7	Detroit	Heller, Will	TE	9	Williams, Philip C.
9	Detroit	Henry, Anthony	CB	6	Colton, Jerrold D.
9	Detroit	James, William	CB	14	Slavin, Ronald Benson
11	Detroit	Jansen, Jon	T	2	Smith, Rick E.
8	Detroit	Manuel, Marquand	SS	6	Slavin, Ronald Benson
7	Detroit	Ramsey, Patrick	QB	0	Sexton, James E.
10	Green Bay	Clifton, Chad	T	12	Sexton, James E.
12	Green Bay	Green, Ahman	RB	0	Branion, Joby
8	Green Bay	Kampman, Aaron	OLB	9	Hurst, Jonathan R
9	Green Bay	Pickett, Ryan	NT	9	McGuire, Kennard
10	Green Bay	Tauscher, Mark	T	8	Cornrich, Neil
7	Houston	Brown, Chris	RB	4	Morgan, Ryan W.
8	Houston	Campbell, Khary	OLB	0	Flanagan, Joseph M.
10	Houston	Ferguson, Nick	SS	1	Reale, John P.
7	Houston	Grossman, Rex	QB	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
7	Houston	Pittman, Bryan	LS	0	Gold, Kevin
8	Houston	Pitts, Chester	G	2	Kessler, Andrew
10	Houston	Reyes, Tutan	G	0	Kremer, Kendall
6	Houston	Robinson, Dunta	CB	16	Chayut, Jason T.
8	Houston	Russell, Brian	FS	1	Frankel, Mitchell
12	Houston	Salaam, Ephraim	T	0	Branion, Joby
7	Houston	Thompson, Chaun	OLB	0	Mackler, Brian
15	Houston	Turk, Matt	P	0	Canter, David E.
7	Houston	Walter, Kevin	WR	14	Dunn, David L.
16	Houston	Zgonina, Jeff	NT	2	Self
7	Indianapolis	Brackett, Gary	MLB	14	Mackler, Brian
20	Indianapolis	Stover, Matt	K	0	Steiner, Jim
9	Jacksonville	Forney, Kynan	G	0	Kiernan, Sean E.
9	Jacksonville	Hayward, Reggie	DE	1	Smith, Fletcher N.
6	Jacksonville	Wilford, Ernest	WR	7	Rosenhaus, Drew
10	Kansas City	Brown, Mike	SS	16	Lock, Ethan
9	Kansas City	Chambers, Chris	WR	14	Dogra, R.K. Ben
6	Kansas City	Copper, Terrance	WR	2	Del Duca, Ronald M.
6	Kansas City	Ryan, Sean	TE	8	Feinsod, Jonathan
7	Kansas City	Smith, Wade	C	9	Parker, Brian D.
13	Kansas City	Vrabel, Mike	OLB	14	Cornrich, Neil
7	Kansas City	Wade, Bobby	WR	6	Stanley, W. Jerome
13	Miami	Ferguson, Jason	NT	9	Sexton, James E.
6	Miami	Jones, Nathan	CB	5	Scott, Everette L.
10	Miami	Pennington, Chad	QB	3	Condon, Thomas J.
13	Miami	Taylor, Jason	OLB	15	Wichard, Gary
8	Minnesota	Hicks, Artis	T	3	Rickert, John W.
6	Minnesota	Kennedy, Jimmy	NT	1	Condon, Thomas J.
7	Minnesota	Lewis, Greg	WR	1	Sarnoff, Kenneth R.
6	Minnesota	Sapp, Benny	CB	7	Shavers, Alonzo L.
8	Minnesota	Taylor, Chester	RB	0	Sarnoff, Kenneth R.
7	New England	Banta-Cain, Tully	OLB	10	Unknown
7	New England	Bodden, Leigh	CB	14	Unknown
9	New England	Burgess, Derrick	OLB	6	Sexton, James E.
11	New England	Faulk, Kevin	RB	7	Brothers, Raymond
8	New England	Green, Jarvis	DE	12	Elias, Albert G.
9	New England	Hanson, Chris	P	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
8	New England	Neal, Steve	G	12	Hurst, Jonathan R
19	New England	Seau, Junior	ILB	0	Demoff, Marvin
6	New England	Watson, Benjamin	TE	7	Rosenhaus, Drew
6	New England	Wilfork, Vince	NT	13	McGuire, Kennard
17	New Orleans	Brunell, Mark	QB	1	Tollner, Bruce A.
11	New Orleans	Campbell, Dan	TE	0	Roth, Leonard S.
10	New Orleans	Clancy, Kendrick	NT	0	Del Duca, Ronald M.
8	New Orleans	Dinkins, Darnell	TE	3	Benedict, Andrew Read
8	New Orleans	Fujita, Scott	OLB	10	Yee, Donald H.
15	New Orleans	Kyle, Jason	LS	0	Bauer, Frank
6	New Orleans	Leckey, Nick	C	0	Harris, Ken
10	New Orleans	Miller, Billy	TE	0	Poston, Kevin D.
11	New Orleans	Prioleau, Pierson	SS	1	Mackler, Brian
13	New Orleans	Sharper, Darren	FS	14	Segal, Joel G.
9	New Orleans	Spicer, Paul	DE	0	Self
8	N.Y. Giants	Carr, David	QB	0	Sullivan, Michael F.
10	N.Y. Giants	Clark, Danny	OLB	12	Branion, Joby
22	N.Y. Giants	Feagles, Jeff	P	0	Self
10	N.Y. Giants	Robbins, Fred	DT	12	Mackler, Brian
9	N.Y. Jets	Dearth, James	LS	0	Mackler, Brian
9	N.Y. Jets	Douglas, Marques	DT	12	Feinsod, Jonathan
9	N.Y. Jets	Feely, Jay	K	0	Schwartzman, Glenn A.
6	N.Y. Jets	Fowler, Ryan	ILB	0	Herman, Alan
6	N.Y. Jets	Hartsock, Ben	TE	7	McCartney, Michael S.
14	N.Y. Jets	Izzo, Larry	ILB	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
15	N.Y. Jets	Richardson, Tony	FB	10	Dye, Patrick F.
10	Oakland	Green, Cornell	T	12	Williams, Philip C.
7	Oakland	Joseph, William	NT	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
9	Oakland	Seymour, Richard	DE	16	Parker, Eugene E.
12	Oakland	Wade, John	C	0	Cook, James A.
8	Oakland	Walker, Langston	T	2	Dubin, Stephen L.
7	Oakland	Williams, Sam	OLB	2	Hoffman, Michael R.
6	Philadelphia	Babin, Jason	DE	0	Rosa, Richard M.
6	Philadelphia	Jones, Sean	SS	9	Mackler, Brian
11	Philadelphia	Trotter, Jeremiah	MLB	7	Woy, Jordan
7	Philadelphia	White, Tracy	OLB	0	Fisher, Jay M.
12	Pittsburgh	Batch, Charlie	QB	0	Kremer, Kendall
8	Pittsburgh	Boiman, Rocky	OLB	0	Herman, Alan
10	Pittsburgh	Carter, Tyrone	SS	12	Bechta, Jack D.
8	Pittsburgh	Clark, Ryan	FS	15	Turner, Joel E.
7	Pittsburgh	Eason, Nick	DE	5	Wyatt, David S.
14	Pittsburgh	Galloway, Joey	WR	2	Trell, Shawn A.
9	Pittsburgh	Hampton, Casey	NT	16	Overstreet, Brian E.
13	Pittsburgh	Kirschke, Travis	DE	7	Bauer, Frank
6	Pittsburgh	Parker, Willie	RB	3	Hendrickson, Douglas J.
8	Pittsburgh	Reed, Jeff	K	0	Henderson, Donal A.
12	Pittsburgh	Townsend, Deshea	CB	2	Schaffer, Peter J.
9	San Diego	Boone, Alfonso	DE	4	Domann, Craig E.
9	San Diego	Manumaleuna, Brandon	FB	4	Sheehy, Paul R.
9	San Diego	Norman, Dennis	C	0	Blank, Bradley K.
7	San Diego	Osgood, Kassim	WR	1	Rosenhaus, Drew
14	San Diego	Runyan, Jon	T	0	Dogra, R.K. Ben
7	San Diego	Scott, Ian	DT	7	Metz, Eric
6	San Diego	Wilson, Kris	TE	0	Smith, Lamont
7	Seattle	Burleson, Nate	WR	12	Sarnoff, Kenneth R.
7	Seattle	Griffith, Justin	FB	11	McCartney, Michael S.
10	Seattle	Houser, Kevin	LS	0	Sharbaugh, Vern G.
7	Seattle	Lewis, D.D.	OLB	0	Uberstine, Gary A.
9	Seattle	Lucas, Ken	CB	6	Cook, James A.
13	Seattle	Mare, Olindo	K	0	Rosenhaus, Drew
10	Seattle	McIntosh, Damion	T	2	Tessler, Brett J.
14	Seattle	Milloy, Lawyer	FS	1	France, Todd E.
7	Seattle	Redding, Cory	DE	3	McGuire, Kennard
14	Seattle	Robinson, Jeff	LS	0	Bauer, Frank
7	San Francisco	Battle, Arnaz	WR	0	Leshnock, Brad
11	San Francisco	Bly, Dré	CB	6	McGuire, Kennard
7	San Francisco	Franklin, Aubrayo	NT	16	France, Todd E.
14	San Francisco	Harris, Walt	CB	0	Capra, Patrick
7	San Francisco	Pashos, Tony	T	1	Smith, Rick E.
10	San Francisco	Roman, Mark	FS	1	Elias, Albert G.
11	San Francisco	Sims, Barry	T	7	Vierra, Kenneth F.
10	San Francisco	Ulbrich, Jeff	ILB	0	Flanagan, Joseph M.
7	San Francisco	Wilhelm, Matt	ILB	1	Feldman, Steven C.
7	St. Louis	Boller, Kyle	QB	4	Dunn, David L.
10	St. Louis	Hall, James	DE	14	Condon, Thomas J.
7	St. Louis	Hart, Clinton	SS	3	Self
8	St. Louis	Lenon, Paris	MLB	10	Persch, Jonathan M.
12	St. Louis	Little, Leonard	DE	13	Speck, Chad
8	St. Louis	Massey, Chris	LS	0	DiPiero, Joseph Timothy
8	St. Louis	McMichael, Randy	TE	16	Rosenhaus, Drew
6	Tampa Bay	Allen, Will	FS	2	Baratz, Blake Aaron
7	Tampa Bay	Bryant, Antonio	WR	11	Smith, Lamont
7	Tampa Bay	Crowell, Angelo	OLB	0	France, Todd E.
8	Tampa Bay	Phillips, Jermaine	FS	2	Dye, Patrick F.
7	Tampa Bay	Wilkerson, Jimmy	DE	15	Lewis, Harold C.
7	Tennessee	Amato, Ken	LS	0	Huebner, Robert E.
10	Tennessee	Bulluck, Keith	OLB	14	Wichard, Gary
9	Tennessee	Crumpler, Alge	TE	14	Williams, James D.
9	Tennessee	Harper, Nicholas	CB	11	Greengross, Ian
7	Tennessee	Hood, Roderick	CB	4	Segal, Joel G.
9	Tennessee	Kaesviharn, Kevin	FS	0	Tollner, Bruce A.
11	Tennessee	Kearse, Jevon	DE	4	Rosenhaus, Drew
16	Tennessee	Mawae, Kevin	C	16	Bartelstein, Mark
7	Tennessee	Nickey, Donnie	SS	1	Chilcoat, Jeffrey R.
9	Tennessee	Vanden Bosch, Kyle	DE	16	Agnone, Anthony J.
15	Washington	Albright, Ethan	LS	0	Conaty, Billy
14	Washington	Daniels, Phillip	DE	15	Unknown
8	Washington	Jones, Levi	T	8	Zuckerman, Kenneth I.
9	Washington	Rabach, Casey	C	16	Agnone, Anthony J.
11	Washington	Smith, Hunter	P	0	Mills, Thomas H.
6	Washington	Williams, Mike	T	8	Branion, Joby
13	Washington	Wynn, Renaldo	DE	0	Schaffer, Peter J.
10	Washington	Yoder, Todd	TE	1	Irwin, Tim E.

Information provided by NFL.

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Applicants must have a proven track record and 2 plus years of retail department store sales experience with time spent in management. Successful candidates must have experience in retail merchandising to include: coordination of sales promotions, display of merchandise, control of inventory stock and records, customer relations; and training, supervising and motivating associate staff. Additional responsibilities include meeting department sales goals and budgets, and reviewing sales reports and financial statements. Ideal candidates will have excellent communication skills, be a self-starter, possess strong team building and supervisory skills. Duties are performed independently under the direction of a Divisional Manager and General Manager. Individual should be actively knowledgeable concerning industry/market trends.

In return, the Navy Exchange offers competitive pay and an excellent benefits package that includes:

Medical Insurance (immediate enrollment)
Dental Insurance (immediate enrollment)
Vision Insurance (immediate enrollment)
Group Life Insurance
Dependent Life Insurance
Traditional Retirement Plan plus matching 401(k) Plan
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Holidays

In addition to the opportunity to support our active duty, reservist, and retired military, and their dependent families.

Interested and qualified applicants should forward their resume and salary requirements to rita_marksteiner@nexweb.org, fax to 847-578-6162, or mail to Navy Exchange, Building 3452 Burkey Mall, Human Resources Department, 2601E Paul Jones Street, Great Lakes, IL 60088.

The Navy Exchange at the Naval Station in Great Lakes, IL is located on Lake Michigan, 40 miles north of downtown Chicago, just south of Gurnee and Waukegan, IL. Our store locations at Great Lakes have an annual retail sales volume of $103 million. The Navy Exchange System (NES) operates retail stores on Navy Bases in the U.S. and overseas. Future opportunities are available in the U.S. and Overseas.

As a Department Manager for the Navy Exchange, you will be responsible for department level management and execution of retail business strategies, policies, and procedures. This management opportunity is geared toward our Home Gallery store focusing on furniture, special orders, large appliances, bedding, sporting goods, and toys.

Applicants must have a proven track record and 2 plus years of retail department store sales experience with time spent in management. Successful candidates must have experience in retail merchandising to include: coordination of sales promotions, display of merchandise, control of inventory stock and records, customer relations; and training, supervising and motivating associate staff. Additional responsibilities include meeting department sales goals and budgets, and reviewing sales reports and financial statements. Ideal candidates will have excellent communication skills, be a self-starter, possess strong team building and supervisory skills. Duties are performed independently under the direction of a Divisional Manager and General Manager. Individual should be actively knowledgeable concerning industry/market trends.

In return, the Navy Exchange offers competitive pay and an excellent benefits package that includes:

Medical Insurance (immediate enrollment)
Dental Insurance (immediate enrollment)
Vision Insurance (immediate enrollment)
Group Life Insurance
Dependent Life Insurance
Traditional Retirement Plan plus matching 401(k) Plan
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Holidays

In addition to the opportunity to support our active duty, reservist, and retired military, and their dependent families.

Interested and qualified applicants should forward their resume and salary requirements to rita_marksteiner@nexweb.org, fax to 847-578-6162, or mail to Navy Exchange, Building 3452 Burkey Mall, Human Resources Department, 2601E Paul Jones Street, Great Lakes, IL 60088.

The Navy Exchange at the Naval Station in Great Lakes, IL is located on Lake Michigan, 40 miles north of downtown Chicago, just south of Gurnee and Waukegan, IL. Our store locations at Great Lakes have an annual retail sales volume of $103 million. The Navy Exchange System (NES) operates retail stores on Navy Bases in the U.S. and overseas. Future opportunities are available in the U.S. and Overseas.

Nicole Garzino reports from Pittsfield: Why fly south when you can enjoy a red-hot, rock-n-roll salsain Pittsfield?  More than 100 masked revelers did just that on Saturday, February 6, dancing the night away to the Latin groove of Los Sugar Kings at last weekend’s benefit Carnivale for Barrington Stage Company’s upcoming summer season.  Hosted in the baubled and bedazzled Upstairs at Jae’s Spice, this caliente dance party came complete with Latin-inspired treats, including Brazilian BBQ, handmade guacamole and the freshest fruit-laden sangria. The party-goers included William Finn, the Tony Award-winning creator of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,  state senator Benjamin Downing, the event’s honorary chair, and masked maidens such as (above, from left to right) Jessica Ridgley, Andrea Lewis and Tina DaFonde Leslie Milton, director of major gifts for New York’s Tenement Museum,  and David Rosenthal;  Mary Ann Quinson, president of Barrington Stage Company’s board or trustees, and Elaine Grant.   Renee DeRagon of Berkshire Shenanigans,  Rachel Plaine, and Paul Dodds.   Barrington Stage board member Reba Evenchik and Tony Award winning composer William Finn;  Liz Wedge, Mike Clary and Barrington Stage capital campaign manager Manisha Tanzman-Rivas.   Photographer Keith Emerling, Orit Kadosh, and Kris Anderson.     Mark Siegars and Fran Steiner;  Dr. Norman Boyd and Barrington Stage artistic director Julianne Boyd.   Ada Flores, Mario Flores, Dr. Michelle Monnin, Dr. Boris Murillo, Alfredo Najera and Clara Najera.   Molly Paluilis and Aleah Kozlowski; one of Los Sugar Kings.

The final tour round my bookshelves, which are now less extensive than many a TBR pile– Mary Renault Paul Reps Joanna Richardson Matt Ridley Rainer Maria Rilke Robert Roberts Henry Rollins Philip Roth Jean Rhys Robert Sabbag Siegfried Sassoon Bruno Schulz Alice Sebold Will Self Joe Simpson Ali Smith Martin Cruz Smith Thorne Smith Stanley Spencer Stephen Spender Robert Louis Stevenson George Steiner Robert Stone Elizabeth Taylor Giuliana Tedeschi DM Thomas Dylan Thomas David Thompson Adam Thorpe Colin Thubron Michel Tournier Joanna Trollope Turgenev John Updike Stephen Venables EH Visiak MM Waldrop Alan [...]

Hochkarätige deutsche Gegenwartsautoren, regionale Krimis und feinste bayerische Politsatire auf Schloss Stein

Die 9. Literatur-und Medienwoche in Stein an der Traun (29. Januar - 05. Februar 2010) wartet auch in diesem Jahr mit einem viel versprechenden Veranstaltungsprogramm und hochkarätigen Gästen aus Literatur, Musik und Kabarett auf: Arno Geiger, Norbert Niemann, die Biermösl Blosn, die Krimi-Autoren Roland Voggenauer, Christian Böhm und Wolfgang Schweiger konnten für die Veranstaltungswoche der Schule Schloss Stein von den Organisatoren Bettina Schwarz und Wolfgang Hörl gewonnen werden. Eine Woche lang stehen Lesungen, Vorträge, Konzerte, Workshops und Kabarett auf dem ausgefeilten Veranstaltungsprogramm.

Unbestrittenes literarisches Highlight der diesjährigen Veranstaltungswoche ist am 4. Februar die Doppellesung "Ein Abend - zwei Autoren" mit Arno Geiger und Norbert Niemann. Geiger, Träger u.a. des Deutschen Buchpreises 2005, gilt als einer der renommiertesten deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsautoren und wird in Schloss Stein exklusiv seinen neuen Roman Alles über Sally noch vor Erscheinen vorstellen (Erscheinungstermin: 8. Februar 2010). Niemann, ausgezeichnet u.a. mit dem Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis, liest aus seinem 2008 erschienenen Roman Willkommen neue Träume. Er erzählt von der Rückkehr des verlorenen Sohnes in ein oberbayerisches Dorf und vom Aufeinanderprallen unterschiedlicher Generationen, Lebensentwürfe und Träume.

Mit den drei Chiemgauer Krimi-Autoren Roland Voggenauer, Christian Böhm und Wolfgang Schweiger sowie den spannenden Jugend-Thrillern der Münchner Autorin Beatrix Mannel richteten die Veranstalter den inhaltlichen Fokus in diesem Jahr auf Kriminalliteratur für alle Altersstufen. So liest etwa der Steiner Autor Ulrich Effenhauser aus seinem Regensburg-Roman Moeller entpuppt sich: Ein Criminal-und Liebesroman aus der Zeit Goethes, musikalisch umrahmt vom Jazz-Vokalensemble Scherzo.

Eröffnet wird die 9. Steiner Literatur-und Medienwoche am 29. Januar um 19:30 Uhr mit einem Konzert des Folk-, Country-und Swing-Duos Matching Ties im Bräustüberl der Schlossbrauerei. Die beiden Musiker Paul Stowe (USA) und Trevor Morriss (UK) verbinden amerikanische Genres wie Country, Blues und Swing mit irischem, englischem oder anderem europäischen Folk.

Weitere Lesungen, Vorträge und Musiktheater für Kinder und Jugendliche bieten Marianne Philipp, Hanskarl Kölsch, Antje Szillat, Aygen-Sibel Celik sowie Dieter Rupp. Am 4. Februar findet außerdem wieder der traditionelle Workshop-Tag für die Schülerinnen und Schüler von Schloss Stein statt, dessen Ergebnisse am 5. Februar Eltern, Freunden der Schule und allen Interessierten präsentiert werden.

Zum krönenden Abschluss der 9. Literatur-und Medienwoche spielt am 5. Februar in der Aula von Schloss Stein die legendäre Biermösl Blosn, die im vergangenen Jahr zusammen mit Gerhard Polt ihr 30-jähriges Bühnenjubiläum feierte und als einer der subversivsten, klügsten und musikalisch herausragendsten Exporte bayerischen Politkabaretts weit über den Freistaat hinaus bekannt ist.

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We're about to reach the halfway point of this Royal Rumble Countdown, and some of the biggest and best moments in the history of wrestling await! 

In case you missed moments 50-41, you can find them here , or if you missed moments 40-31, they are available right here .

From backstage politicing to incredible showdowns, our next group of 10 will take this countdown to the next level of immortality.  Are you ready?

30. Piper upsets the Mountie, 1992

Sometimes, the best moments in wrestling history happen simply by fluke. In 1992, Bret Hart came down with a bad illness, forcing him to surrender his WWF Intercontinental Championship match against the hated Mountie. 

With most outlets exhausted, Roddy Piper stepped in as little more than a throwaway replacement for the Hitman.  But Piper had a trick or two up his sleeve, outsmarting the Mountie and his barrage of weapons en route to his first Intercontinental Championship.  With the win, Piper was poised to potentially capture the top two titles in the WWF in one night, but he was unsuccessful in the Royal Rumble match. 

Eventually, his championship reign led to a return feud with Hart, who reappeared just in time for a bloody clash at WrestleMania VIII.

29. The Vader Debacle, 1996

Back in the early and mid-90’s, it was a big deal when a franchise superstar left one company to go and work with the opposition.  But with all of these movers and shakers, we often forget to document the men who were left behind to fall into total obscurity, despite what should have been an obviously huge impact for the company. 

Sometimes, these men are victims of circumstance, succumbing to injuries and the like.  But mostly, these stars are booked into unreasonably bad feuds and angles that lead to their ultimate demise after being promised greener pastures. By 1996, Leon White was fed up with the way things were going in World Championship Wrestling. Seeing himself as little more than a standup for Sting and, more importantly, Hulk Hogan, the Rocky Mountain grizzly bear departed WCW in favor of a new start with the World Wrestling Federation. 

Vader was always a "can’t miss" talent. His shoot-fighting style made him a legitimate tough guy, and his look was that of a massively intimidating biker. He terrorized Japan and WCW at well over 300 pounds, and had intensely frightening promos.  So when he made his WWF debut in the 1996 Royal Rumble, he should have easily been a favorite.  And he was. He dominated early, eliminated bigger men than himself before going head to head with Yokozuna. And then, everything went horribly wrong. Vader, alongside Yoko, was somewhat embarrassed when the titanic sumo had little trouble matching up with the big man, despite being way passed his prime. Both men would be eliminated by then superhero Shawn Michaels. 

Vader’s career never recovered. He was booked into a laughable feud with HBK where he would constantly get disqualified and never win. He lost out to the Undertaker after proving to be one of Paul Bearer’s lackeys, and then, sometime after, his next most notable WWF feud was with Goldust.

28. Angle vs. Benoit, 2003

The 2003 Royal Rumble was easily one of the worst-booked cards for the WWE during their “transitional” period. Long gone were many of the faces that made the Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars profitable. 

Fans and management alike were grasping at straws for their biggest stars, as the Rumble Match itself featured few main event players and the crowd had already suffered through a Dawn Marie/Torrie Wilson snooze fest as well as 20+ minutes of Scott Steiner’s belly-to-belly suplex cavalcade against Triple H. Little did they know that the only thing that could save the card was a contest between two technical masterminds: Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. 

Angle, the defending WWE Champion, was really in the "can’t miss" phase of his career.  All of his matches were turning into gems. And while it was widely believed that Benoit didn’t have a snowball’s chance of winning this match, you knew he could deliver. Both men did just that. 

Much like Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1991, this match redefined what it was to be a technical wrestler and entertainer at the same time. Easily one of the best matches of the year in 2003 (if not the best), it would give Benoit the ultimate push to the top about one year later.

 

27. Matt screws Jeff, 2009

The internet has killed more of the wrestling business that it will ever take credit for killing.  Amidst all the buzz and rumors, bookers for both TNA and WWE now have to do their absolute best, at worst, of keeping the audience on their toes at all times, considering how well-documented everything appears to be. 

Story leaks, contract signings, talent firings, and any number of other independent variables have oversaturated the market with a lack of originality. So file this moment under unexpected, but not exactly appreciated. With his first main event position finally in his grasp, Jeff Hardy was being terrorized by some kind of hired gun who wanted nothing more than to sabotage everything Jeff was doing. 

Since Jeff was feuding with Edge, and knowing that Christian had recently re-signed with the company, the smart fans all assumed that this was the logical conclusion.  Assuming that this was the WWE’s plan as well, they decided to change it altogether in an effort to make themselves less predictable. Jeff’s saboteur would reveal himself to be Matt Hardy, as Jeff lost the title to Edge at the 2009 Rumble. 

Matt and Jeff would then feud for most of the early part of the year, leading to a broken wrist for the latter. Christian? He debuted in ECW, quietly, and without fanfare.  Sometimes the smart marks really do know better.

26. Bob Backlund’s miracle run, 1993

He was the first true champion since Bruno Sammartino.  He was the last true champion before Hulk Hogan. When listing the greatest WWF champions of all time, Bob Backlund is near the top of the list. But all of that took place in the late 70’s and early 80’s, certainly not in 1993. 

Backlund, who was quietly attempting a comeback for the Federation, entered the Royal Rumble second, with Ric Flair in first.  While Flair fizzled out after about 15 minutes, Backlund took the abuse from all sides, yet managed to last over one hour in the contest, defying all the odds by never being eliminated despite the competition often being bigger, stronger, and much younger. Backlund was a part of the final three before finally being eliminated by the eventual winner, Yokozuna. 

Backlund, 18 months later, would shockingly become the WWF Champion once again, setting a record for longest time inbetween World Title reigns. 

25. Duggan eliminates Gang to win, 1988

The first one. It may have had only 20 people, but the 1988 Royal Rumble still sets the standard for what a Royal Rumble match should be. As the match wound down, it became clear as to who the favorite was. 

The One Man Gang, with his massive 6’4” frame and bruising physique, was tossing bodies out left and right. Eventually, the Gang had only one obstacle left between him and victory: Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Duggan couldn’t match up in size or strength, but his speed and quickness were certainly pluses. Just when it looked like the Gang had it won, he miscalculated a running clothesline, and Duggan ducked him, using Gang’s momentum to put him over the top rope. 

Duggan was the first man to ever win the Royal Rumble Match, and also had the longest period of time inbetween Rumble appearances in history since he was a surprise entry in 2009 after not taking part in the contest since the early 90’s.  JR said it best: "An oldie, but goodie!"

24. No. 30 Finally Wins, 2007

Billed as the most star-studded Rumble of all time, the 2007 Royal Rumble match had its fair share of superstar contenders.  When the Great Khali entered 28th, there were nearly a dozen men in the ring. Khali cleared them out with head butts and press slams. Running low on options, No. 30's victory was imminent. 

The fact of the matter, however, was that despite the advantage of being the last man in the match, number 30 had never won the contest. To that time, some of the biggest wrestlers in the company had been No. 30: Randy Orton, Goldberg, The Undertaker (twice), Booker T, Ric Flair, and Randy Savage.  However, other No. 30 entrants were not as notable: Duke “the Dumpster” Droese, The Warlord, Rikishi, Chyna, and Tugboat. 

When the time came, it would be the Undertaker’s third attempt at No. 30 to win the contest. This time, he wouldn’t fail. Taker took out Khali first, and then eliminated the odds-defying MVP before his final showdown with Rated RKO and Shawn Michaels. After HBK took out Randy Orton and Edge, Taker would finally have his Rumble moment with his first victory in the match and the first win for any No. 30 ever. 

23. Giant Gonzalez, 1993

To be fair, the Royal Rumble has always statistically been a big event for the Undertaker. Whether it be Rumble wins or title matches, Taker has been a pivotal figure in the last 20 years of Rumbles. 

In 1993, he was one of the favorites to win the match, but a promise from Harvey Whippleman to “drop the bomb” on Big Evil loomed ominously over the contest. Sooner rather than later, Taker was in, and dominating the fray, until Whippleman unveiled a massive beast, wearing a spray-on muscle suit with tuft patches of hair.  If he hadn’t been well over seven feet tall, this wouldn’t have looked very menacing. 

The WWF was introduced to Giant Gonzalez, who at the time, was better known as El Gigante for his less than stellar run in WCW.  Gonzalez was a monster, decimating the Taker and his Rumble performance by absolutely destroying him in a way that hadn’t been seen to that time in the WWF. It was the first time someone appeared to be more than a match for Mean Mark. 

22. The Perfect Return, 2002

The 2002 Royal Rumble carried a very untraditional setup to some of its mystery entrants: everybody knew who they were.  Just weeks before the Royal Rumble match, the then-WWF announced that Val Venis, The Godfather, Goldust, and Mr. Perfect would all be returning in the 30-man battle royal. 

While three of these names hadn’t been separated from the company for two long, the fourth was Curt Hennig, who had been absent from WWF programming for nearly six years.  His return was nothing short of what was promised; he was perfect. 

Hennig did all the old moves and spots we expected, but more impressively, he earned the crowd’s respect for the old school and managed to outlast Stone Cold Steve Austin.  That’s right, Mr. Perfect made it to the final three, and every time he was thrown over the top rope, he would slink back into the ring, much to the applause of the crowd. 

While he didn’t win the contest, Hennig earned himself a full-time gig with the company that unfortunately ended just a few months later when it appeared as if he was getting a big push.  He died less than a year later as a result of acute cocaine intoxication, taking one of the best in-ring performers away before he could fully make his comeback. 

21. The Casket Match, 1994
As mentioned previously, not all of the top 50 moments are the greatest.  Some are just the most memorable, or in this case, outwardly bizarre. 

Leading into the titanic clash between Yokozuna and the Undertaker for the WWF title at the 1994 Royal Rumble, all signs pointed to Taker having the big man’s number.  The casket had even been specially crafted to fit Yoko and it appeared as though we were going to get a new WWF Champion.  But Yokozuna had an ace, or rather, the whole deck, up his sleeve. 

What started as a one-on-one exhibition turned into an assault when Genichiro Tenryu, the Great Kabuki, Bam Bam Bigelow, Crush, Jeff Jarrett, the Headshrinkers, Adam Bomb, and Diesel all interfered on Yokozuna’s behalf.  They dismantled the Undertaker in a conglomerate effort that saw the Undertaker lose at his very own game.  He had been beaten and knocked out, but the best was yet to come. 

Soon, his casket began to secrete a green mist.  Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji opened the fabled urn, and it too, was leaking this smoke.  All attention turned to one of the first models of the TitanTron, where Taker lay dormant inside the casket, until he suddenly awoke and promised a return greater and stronger than he had been previous.  Then the image began to electrocute itself until the casket on the screen (not the actual one) exploded. 

And as Undertaker’s image rose through the top of the TitanTron, so did another Undertaker, standing in full garb above the Hartford Civic Center.  Vintage Undertaker.

Check back all this week for the next 10 moments, leading up to No. 1 and the 2010 Royal Rumble!