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Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Cosmic Trigger – first incomplete thoughts

Cosmic Trigger is a play about ideas, by which I mean that it makes ideas sensational. It would be easy to create an adaptation of Robert Anton Wilson's book consisting of nothing but a succession of wordy philosophical and speculative conversations, punctuated by "events". What Daisy Eris Campbell's play compellingly demonstrates – through its synchronistic structure, by its enthusiastic individual performances and in the sheer pottiness of the project as a whole – is that the ideas we entertain are indistinguishable from the physical world that our brains create. Events and ideas are one and the same.

In other words, to live in the most liberated way possible, we are obliged to suppose everything. This involves embracing contradictory realities simultaneously, while becoming a prisoner of none. The three principal characters – Robert Anton Wilson, Kerry Thornton and Timothy Leary – each attempt to live in this idealistic Discordian paradise, but with varying degrees of success. Oliver Senton (with whom Kate Alderton should be mentioned in the same breath), Lee Ravitz and Andrew MacBean provide a human scale to these larger-than-life characters engaged on this journey.

To reflect the multiplicity of realities colliding with each other on and off stage, Cosmic Trigger employs a very broad range of theatrical moods. There is pantomime, cabaret and caper. There is a cheesy musical number (a explanation of the eight-circuit model of consciousness). There is both camp farce and good sex. There are spectacular costumes, sets and set pieces. There is also tragedy, expressed minimally through unadorned monologue in a single spotlight. Many of the most memorable moments come when the mood changes abruptly, such as Josh Darcy's explosive entrance as Ken Campbell, or the poignant scene in which Bob and Arlen's daft party is suddenly interrupted by horrifying news. The finale of the four-hour show is joyful, yet without being tritely upbeat.

Throughout the play, the audience is treated to the joy of multiple worlds whooshing into existence. The happy energy of Wilson and Thornley, as they plan out Operation Mindfuck in Act One, infects the whole experience of watching it. We discover that the whole show (on and off stage) is a joke, a deep joke that we can choose to struggle with or go along with. Although the clever fourth-wall stuff offers regular reminders that reality is on the rocks, it is Eris, in the end, who completely capsizes the production. Whenever Claudia Boulton materialises, there is the genuine thrill of danger that only accompanies the best improvised mayhem.

Dave, who couldn't be there, texted me afterwards, asking me to sum up the experience in a sound. The only thing I could think to reply was: "Zeus's orgasm". I wonder if Eris will forgive me, for using her [supposed] father's ejaculation as the ultimate metaphor for something as vast, ridiculous and fertile as Cosmic Trigger.

Friday, 31 October 2014

Can Comedy be Taught?

"Comedy cannot be taught; you're either funny or you're not."

I read that sentence the other day for the umpteenth time. Whenever I read this sentence, I sigh, frown, scratch he back of my neck and move on.

I used to agree with that statement more than I do now. I used to think that some actors and funny people were simply gifted, because it was impossible to identify what it was that made them special. Today this nebulous star quality is sometimes referred to as the 'X-Factor'. And if the skills required to amaze and to amuse cannot be identified or named, let alone transmitted from one person to another, then it seems to imply that those skills are innate.

But that's a completely monstrous inference, because it implies that plenty of us, by a genetic predisposition entirely outside of our volition, are not funny and never will be. Worse still, it's safe to say that many of us never-to-be-funny people are condemned to go through life with a burning desire to make people laugh – out of either a selfless need to spread joy or a personal desire to gain approval – but they never will.

I suppose that many comedians will at some point in their careers go through a phase of imagining that they are one of these tortured souls, whose curse is to wish desperately to be funny, while lacking sufficient God-given funniness. They will rage like Salieri in Amadeus, pointing an accusatory finger up at Heaven for having ordained such an unjust state of affairs.

It seems to me that we are all not only funny, but hilariously funny, because we all participate in the deep, universal irony of life, matter and things. According to my best attempt at a personal cosmology, Jokes are (along with Music, Stories and Games) the fundamental constituents of the universe. For some, being funny will come naturally, but everyone's comedy is unique and special, and it can't be expressed by trying to amuse other people. Rather than access the funny in ourselves, we often strive to imagine what other people might find funny, and attempt to replicate that. To be oneself is ridiculous, which is why the best comedians seem as though they were born funny: they are themselves. Is it possible to learn to be yourself? I suppose so.

After all, just because a quality cannot be broken down and transmitted, that doesn't mean it cannot be acquired. Comedy could be thought of as a virtue, like generosity or courage. No one would ever say: "Courage cannot be taught; you're either brave or you're not." Anyone can learn to be brave, yes, not by being taught it but by allowing themselves to become it. The same is true of comedy.

Of course, there are plenty of classes to be taken in stand-up comedy (and improv sometimes seems to consist entirely of classes). But it is worth remembering the limitations of these teaching situations. They can only teach you the paraphernalia of the craft, and nudge you into the correct state of mind for being yourself. If you treat comedy, improv or self-discovery as though they were skills that can be paid for and obtained in a classroom from a teacher, then you are shirking the responsibility you have to draw on your own resources, which are vastly more unimaginably unimaginable than you can possibly imagine.

For "Comedy cannot be taught; you're either funny or you're not," I propose the following: "I suppose that you are inherently and spectacularly funny; no one can uncork the source of your comedy but you."

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Actualism, or Why I Use Food in my Act

@Isabelle Adam
In my act, I use quite a lot of food: for example, fennel, grapes, and Rice Krispies. This is not a particularly original idea. Many alternative comics use food in their acts. All three of the performers nominated for this year's increasingly prestigious Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality use food in their acts, as do many of the shows of The Weirdos collective. Is food funny?

I have long believed that there is a list of things that can happen on stage that are more "actual"* than others. These are things that transcend the fakery and pretence that are inherent to scripted performance, striking the audience as happening inescabably in the actual present. The list is long and quite varied, but here are some examples. When a gun appears on stage, the audience seldom believe that it is an actual gun, though they will be braced for a bang. Stage knives are usually fake, but a knife quickly becomes actual when it is hurled at another performer strapped to a rotating wheel. A baby on stage is not a baby actor; it is a baby. A baby's reactions to everything that happens to them on stage are absolutely genuine; the words "believable" and "convincing" do not even apply to a baby's performance. Dogs and other animals can be trained to fake their way on stage. Bees, however, cannot. I want to see more shows that use bees.

When two actors kiss, the act transcends any pretence. It doesn't matter if the actors are bad, or if we don't believe the emotions supposedly conveyed by the kiss: the kiss actually happens. In a rare example of theatrical synchronicity, the actors kiss at exactly the same moment that the characters do, and we witness this act live. Stage nudity is the same. When a character gets naked, the actor does too, and we see that they do. Any action that breaks the surface of the performer's skin will appear more actual to the audience, propelling them into the now. When an actor sweats, spits, pisses, shits or shoots ping pong balls out of their vagina, they are using their body in a vivid and immediate way that demands attention.

When liquids spill and splash in a scene, they do so on the actual stage, too. The same when smoke billows from the wings. They may be special effects, but they are not artificial. It has been said that when André Antoine first staged his naturalistic productions at the Theatre Libre in Paris in the late 1880s, audiences were shocked to see actors drinking real water actually poured out of ordinary jugs. Prior to fourth-wall innovations such as Antoine's, the convention had been for props to be clearly fake, and the use of them was always mimed.

There are many other examples of "actualism" on stage. I invite you to find more. Actualism is why I use food, eating and drinking in my act, and I suspect that is why other comics do too. Using food alerts the audience to the actual that is happening in front of them. It helps to make the performance live.

I do often feel, however, that these techniques constitute only short-cuts to creating an "actual" live performance. Smoke, water, food, kissing, nudity and bees are all gimmicks. That's not to dismiss them; for example, I intend exploring gimmicks such as smells and reflected light in future performances. But they are in themselves no substitute for the emotional connection that audiences crave. There can be no trickery involved in this, as audiences demand the authentic, the actual. After all, even the act of crying, of forcing water out of your face, can be faked.

To invite an audience to experience your authentic feelings as vividly as they can see you are actually covering your arms with jam: that, for me, is a creative goal worth pursuing.

* I am being careful here to use neither the words "real" and "realism" (which carry the absurd implication of "truth") nor the words "natural" and "naturalism" (which relate only to one particular style of representation).

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Sympathy for the Heckler

My experience performing my act at stand-up comedy nights is very limited, though on the whole I've enjoyed doing these nights more than I expected to. I've been lucky enough to only ever perform in smallish rooms, with rather polite, sober and attentive crowds. On the few occasions that people have been chatting over me, I've stopped and asked them to be quiet. And, so far, this approach has worked. But I suspect that if anyone were to heckle me aggressively, I'd flee the stage in tears and give up comedy for six months.

One aspect of stand-up comedy I've never managed to fully enjoy is the whole microphone thing. I like to think that it is a minimum requirement for me as a performer that I should be heard at the back of an ordinary sized room, and that what I'm saying should be worth listening to. My voice has never had any professional training – I've been told that I'm sometimes too quiet or too shouty – but it's definitely getting better. (As for whether my material is worth listening to, there is a limit to the extent to which I can modify it to guess an audience's tastes. On the whole, I am reliant entirely on my own enthusiasm for it.)

The microphone immediately puts a barrier up between the comic and the audience. It establishes the comic as the only legitimate voice in the room, performing the same role aurally that powerful lighting does visually, forcing the audience into silence the same way the lights plunge them into darkness. I think lights and microphone conspire to make the stage experience more artificial, more like watching a film in a cinema than a live person in a room. The audience want to see and hear me clearly, yes, but I also want to see and hear them.

Under some circumstances, I can almost sympathise with the heckler. I don't mean to imply that I have the slightest respect for anyone who maliciously interrupts a performer, and I dislike the laddish, confrontational culture that considers the swapping of insults between stage and bar to be the stock-in-trade of the stand-up's art. But if you're sat at the back in darkness, and the comic is separated off from you, bathed in light, on a platform, voice amplified, having been given a hero's welcome by the emcee, and you're drunk and you're finding it impossible to listen, but you want to be entertained, then wouldn't you naturally become frustrated at the situation?

I think audiences want to feel a connection with whoever's entertaining them. When they heckle, some of the artificial barriers are broken down. The comic has to come out from behind their microphone, shade their eyes from the glare of the lights to make contact with the audience, ditch their prepared lines and start some genuine, spontaneous interaction. It's horrible and aggressive, but it's at least something, something real, something that's actually happening.

I did a stand-up night in Edinburgh that began at 12:30 a.m. The comedians and the audience alike were generally very young and rather drunk, and the microphone was too loud – to help everyone concentrate, I suppose. One comic seemed as frustrated by the evening as the audience were. He slowly peeled off his jokes one by one, but his voice was amped up so disproportionally that, no matter how much the audience laughed, the gap after each punchline seemed silent by comparison. There were only about fifteen people in the room. Increasingly, he began to comment on the apparent indifference of the audience, then started berating the audience for their poor response, and eventually invited them to shout insults at him. A heckle is a better reaction than nothing.

When I got up to perform immediately afterwards, the first thing I did was get rid of the microphone, and ask if everyone could hear me without it. The loud cheer I got in answer to this question was one of the most positive responses I've received to anything I've ever done on stage.

Monday, 8 September 2014

What I Got from the Fringe

It's not uncommon for performers at the Fringe to experience a come-down once the Festival is over. That makes sense to me. A great deal of energy goes into making an Edinburgh show. This energy consists of well-spent creative and emotional effort, as well as the physical work of dashing around the city, flyering, organising props and publicity and performing every day. It also consists of wasted energy: getting emotional about practical matters, and attempting to fix creative problems by running about.

But once the shows are finished, once all that energetic self-promotion and self-hype has died down, it can be hard not to feel slightly empty. It's in the nature of performance that the prizes are fleeting. The show ends, the audience goes home, the venue is dismantled, the flyers are thrown away. What are we left with?

No wonder that performers chase after whatever substantive rewards are available in Edinburgh. For some, this will consist of relationships with agents, promoters and other professionals likely to advance their careers and allow them to do more ambitious shows. Others seek out the stars. The star-system turns the complicated, infuriating, ambiguous language of show reviewing into pure currency, which can be weighed up, quantified and calculated.

A few comedians I spoke to said that the reason why they wanted to do the full month of the Fringe was simply in order to prove to themselves that they could. This "because it's there" reasoning appeals to me. Performing at the Fringe is akin to running a marathon. There is something fundamentally ludicrous about the challenge. I decided to do only ten shows, because I thought this would be my emotional and physical limit. In order to run a marathon, one must first be able to run 10,000 metres. If I do the Fringe again, I will do a bit more.

It's certainly the case that shows that are performed more than twenty times undergo a much more vigorous testing than those that are just done ten times. They are forged into much stronger shows through their repetition. On the down side, the work is intense, and at times becomes a feat of purely physical stamina rather than of creative honing. It is almost inevitable that a few of the performances will be sub-par.

One of the clearest advantages to doing a shorter Fringe was that I barely underwent any of the crashing lows that are typical of the full-run performer's experience. The shows were all enjoyable to do, and they all went more-or-less "well", despite a few obvious glitches, lapses in memory and concentration and poor choices. If I had done more performances, I would have made more mistakes and done a few more shoddy shows, but I would have made more discoveries along the way.

The most significant discovery that I made was that the almost structureless succession of "acts" that made up the backbone of my scripted show became almost subordinate to the banter with the audience. I increasingly enjoyed drawing the room together, pooling ideas from the crowd, responding to both their laughter and their confused silences. This meant that a show that originally had clocked in at a little over 50 minutes started to overrun quite considerably. Even after I had cut a lot of additional material I had originally thought I would need, I regularly made myself a nuisance to the group whose show was on in the same space immediately after mine.

But I find it hard to regret much about an experience that was so overwhelmingly positive. By dwelling on the lessons to be learned, however, I can escape the melancholy that might follow a straightforwardly "successful" Fringe. I have chosen to step away from improv for the foreseeable future, and devote myself to solo scripted performance, even if that means that at first I spend less time on stage. Starting at a lower level in the vast and diverse comedy arena is more exciting to me now than continuing to do shows of increasingly consistent quality, in an increasingly familiar setting.

I have also bought myself the official Edinburgh Festival Fringe t-shirt.

Thursday, 24 July 2014

The Seven Laughs

"Comedy" is no more a genre of performance than "music" is. Its forms are so heterogeneous that the only thing uniting them would appear to be laughter. But laughter itself is bewilderingly diverse. We laugh "with" and "at". We laugh out of embarrassment, joy, spite or anger. We laugh at dumb things and at clever things. We laugh when someone walks into a lamppost; we laugh when they narrowly miss doing so. We laugh when our preconceptions are confounded, but also when they are confirmed. We laugh when powerful men are brought low by an ironic twist of fate; we laugh at a dog wearing a bra.

My supposition is that laughter isn't one thing, but at least seven different things, which are entirely distinct from each other. Some comedians work to elicit a particular kind of laugh, and if they receive the kind of laughter they are aiming for, then the performance feels not just successful, but authentic as well. Other comedians either don't know or don't care what noise the audience is making, so long as they are laughing. Their performances can feel somehow forced and unnatural.

How many different laughs are there? There are innumerable words in the English language. For the purposes of this taxonomy, however, I have omitted such laughs as the Holler, the Howl, the Bellow and the Hiss, as these words are also used for non-laugh or semi-laugh noises. My list is restricted to seven primary laughs. The order in which they are described corresponds to their principal vowel sound, their placement in the vocal cavity, and their putative source in the body, like the seven chakras of Hindu traditions. These are:
  1. The Titter
  2. The Giggle
  3. The Snigger
  4. The Cackle
  5. The Chuckle
  6. The Chortle
  7. The Guffaw
The Titter is the lightest permissible laugh, often suppressed, often barely audible. It is kept in check by societal conventions and the strictures of propriety contained in the Biblical commandment: "Titter ye not". The Titter is a female laugh, and its forbidden status reflects a historic patriarchal stifling of the female voice in general, and the female laugh in particular (see The Cackle).

The Giggle is the laugh of children, originating before language, and along with crying is the earliest form of self-expression. Like crying, giggling needs no object other than itself; just as one can cry simply because you are tearful, so you can "get the giggles", laughing at laughter itself. Some children are instructed not to giggle; is being told not to cry any different?

The Snigger (US: "Snicker") is located high up at the back of the mouth, and is impossible to accomplish without a tightening of the facial and pharyngeal muscles. As a result, it is not a relaxed laugh, but one more associated with fear or aggression, and is used more often for "laughing at" than for "laughing with". The Snigger is popularly associated with male privilege: hence "sniggering schoolboys".

The Cackle, another tension laugh, is identified almost exclusively as the laugh of witches, and could be said to be the female equivalent of the Snigger. It is, however, located further towards the back of the throat. It has historically been linked to evil intent, and is itself held to be taboo by social norms. Hence, the Cackle is a political laugh, the laugh of progressive satire.

The Chuckle, by contrast, is a relaxed laugh located largely in the larynx. It is perhaps the most private of laughs. One can chuckle to oneself or at oneself. The Chuckle is ironic: the least aggressive and the most balanced of laughs.

The Chortle belongs to the chest cavity. If the Chuckle is private, the Chortle is invariably social. The importance of the Chortle as an endorsement of the shared values and experiences of a particular group cannot be understated. It can both affirm the group's system of beliefs and isolate the outsider.

The Guffaw, in evolutionary terms, is the oldest laugh, perhaps predating mammalian life itself, as it exists principally in the digestive system and gut, almost entirely detached from rational higher brain functions, and can cause us to expel fluids from eyes, mouth and bladder. Thus this laugh transcends social conventions, connecting us on a deeper level with our bodies and with humanity as a whole.

So far as I can tell, these seven laughs are entirely distinct from one another. These notes represent only my preliminary thoughts, and I welcome any feedback on the subject of laughter. There's plenty more research to be done, enough to fill a book. Maybe one day I will write that book.

If I ever get round to that, however, I will certainly add, by way of a further supposition, that there is an eighth laugh. This is the Silent Laugh: the laugh that originates from outside ourselves, the background laughter of the universe. Like our own heartbeat or the rumble of urban traffic, we learn to become deaf to it. The deepest ironies of the human condition are conveyed by it down the millennia. To enjoy the Silent Laugh, we must abandon ourselves to it, to become both its source and its object.

Sunday, 4 May 2014

My Shelves, My Selves

On Friday night, I was interviewed by John Fleming for his blog. Among the topics we discussed was how sad it was that such a talented, eclectic and erudite man as Jeremy Beadle became so castigated as a result of Beadle's About. (Inexcusable pun: using Beadle as your go-to 'figure of hate' is a despicable shorthand.) Fleming had known Beadle personally, and mentioned the extension that he had built on to his house to contain the library he used while working as London Editor of The People's Almanac.

Yesterday, the morning after my meeting with Fleming, I was doing my own book reorganization. A large number of them had been removed from our living room while we redecorated. It was time to put them back in again.

I'm old enough now to perceive the limits of my book acquisition. I buy many fewer books now than I did in my late teens and early twenties, a time when it was impossible to order up rare books from the Internet. Many of my most precious books were excavated from damp labyrinths underneath the Charing Cross Road, which I would explore speculatively on a frequent basis. Unless I become suddenly wealthy and change my reading and living habits, I'm unlikely to need miles of additional shelf-space. It is not inconceivable that, within my lifetime, many new books – especially those of obscure subject matter – will never see ink or paper, and that most of the books in my collection will be digitized, and could be retrieved on my phone with a few taps.

The more books that are hoarded, however, the less likely it it becomes that any particular book will ever be consulted again. So they sit on the shelf and get dusty. When you move house, they get piled into heavy boxes and them emptied out again. So they've been treated like pure clutter and moved out of their previous free-standing bookshelves (low-level, easy-to-reach, taking up floor space) and archived away onto high-level purpose-built wall shelves. Why not simply get rid of them?

That would be unthinkable. They're one of the very few things that I'm proud of. Of course, I've plenty of Queneau, Perec, Cocteau, Vian, Roussel, etc.. But I also have the 32 volumes of Fantômas, plus several very rare editions of the Allain-era sequels (and the exceptional L'Encyclopedie de Fantômas, which deserves an blog entry all to itself). I've a tatty copy of Ubu Roi signed by Stanley Chapman with a gidouille sketch. I've scuffed early editions, published by Calder Boyers, of all of Ionesco's plays, and lots of René de Obaldia and Fernando Arrabal, Robert Pinget, etc. And quite a lot of Blaise Cendrars and Gustave Le Rouge, and countless tiny nrf 'Le Livre de Poche' editions of French poetry which is unlikely ever to be translated, and which I'll never get round to reading. (And naturally, I own the three volumes of The People's Almanac and related publications.)

Each one carries with it a journey that I once took, hidden away between the covers. The experiences and significances inside them shine brightly with myriad iridescent refractions and personal reflections. They're not much to look at, but they are more precious to me than diamonds. Nonetheless, it is impossible not to contemplate the imperceptible, slow change in my relationship with my books. They are on display, but out of the way, like a rusting ploughshare nailed to the wall of a country pub. With every day that passes they become less like the tools I use in my life and more like an ossified memorial of it. My books give me an overwhelmingly delightful melancholy and a tragic joy.

Casual visitors to Highgate Cemetery often react with surprise when they stumble upon Jeremy Beadle's moving gravestone. (They should put a hidden camera there.)

P. S. As a result of several emotional and physical upheavals in the last few years, my books have become horrible muddled, and it is time to set about the massive task of organizing them – which will be an existential self-organization. There's plenty that has been written on this topic, in particular a great article by Perec in Species of Spaces, a book which, ironically, I'm currently unable to find.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

I have a fascination with voice actors. The other day it occurred to me that Gargamel in the original Smurfs TV series sounded a lot like Dick Dastardly. A Google search cleared this up simply. Yes, it turns out, the two characters were both voiced by Paul Winchell. On discovering Winchell's Wikipedia page, however, I was blown away.

His primary achievement was as a ventriloquist, working with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Here's an episode of one of his live TV shows from 1955, heavily sponsored by Tootsie Rolls.

It's worth watching the whole show. For example, at 17:13, Knucklehead Smiff sings a song explaining the workings of the human eye. By 22:40, Jerry Mahoney has apparently run away from home, and Winchell is in tears.

In addition to his ventriloquism and voice acting work (most famously as Tigger in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh animations), Paul Winchell made studies in acupuncture, medical hypnosis and theology. He was an accomplished painter. He invented an artificial heart – which may have influenced the Jarvik-7 – and a disposable razor blade. He also worked for the Leukemia Society, and promoted a hunger relief scheme in Africa through fish farming. Yet there appears also to have been a darker side to his life, including personal battles with abuse as a child, depression and mental illness.

Paul Winchell's autobiography, Winch, was published in 2004, the year before his death, and clearly he used it to settle a few scores. Good luck finding a copy. It is not in the British Library. Indeed, there appear to be no copies in the United Kingdom. The cheapest copy available I can find on Amazon is £175. Was the book withdrawn, pulped even, following legal wranglings over its content? There exists this thread, on a magicians' forum, for people who wonder how Winch may be obtained, including contributions from individuals who claim to have read it.

The only scrap of Winch I have so far managed to salvage is the lurid cover, including "Foreword by Dr Henry Heimlich, creator of the Heimlich Maneuver", and this press release from the book's publisher. I joyfully quote it in full. Every paragraph is jaw-dropping.

After many years of waiting, fans of legendary ventriloquist, Paul Winchell, can now learn the real, life story of one of the more unusual television performers of our time, the amazing Paul Winchell. Far more than a ventriloquist and television performer, Paul Winchell'’s life is hard to contain even in, WINCH, his 400 page autobiography, because, unlike most people in this strange planet, Paul Winchell dared to be himself. And by daring to follow his own golden thread of truth, Paul Winchell, like the legendary Ariadne, met the Minotaur, his own monster within. This true story is a tale, which transcends even his meteoric rise to fame and fortune as one of the leading television entertainers of the 50's and the 60's and many other facets of his amazing life.
As Winchell proclaims on the dust jacket, on the back of WINCH's bright and inviting cover, with the pictures famous ventriloquist and his dummies in his television studio: "Let me warn you at the outset, this is not a typical Hollywood memoir. In a way, it is a ghost story, written by a person who lived in two completely different worlds. Publicly, I lived in a world of glitter and celebrity. Privately, I lived in a world dominated by a ghostly apparition, elevated to deific proportions. In this secret world, I made an excruciatingly difficult odyssey towards self-knowledge."
Both the glitter and the nightmare of his life are relentlessly tracked in a book, which sometimes reads like Horatio Alger and sometimes like Stephen King. In fact, most of his fans will be shocked to learn of the Paul Winchell who had a private life outside of the limelight, whose true life was so different than that of the public Paul. Winchell. Although many celebrities have written books that brush the cobwebs under the table, Paul Winchell does not. In WINCH, Paul Winchell mercilessly chronicles the private war he fought against the darkness within himself.
During the 1930's, a kid from Coney Island is struck by the art of Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist who has soared to fame on a radio show, the Chase and Sanborn hour. Bergen, through his writings and performances becomes the mentor that launches young Winchell on his career. Eventually, Winch becomes to television what Bergen was to radio, climbing through the world of radio and Big Bands. Still, the death of his mother, Clara, who he both loved and feared, an unhappy marriage and torrid love affair ignite the latent psychological problems within. Winch, despite his great success, lives in a supernatural world, assailed by an apparition, who assumes monstrous, almost deific proportions.
Eventually, this interior world turned upside down, overtakes the real world. His fight to exorcise his demons continues, as he develops numerous prime time TV shows and children's shows, which dominate the airwaves for more than two decades. Although partially drowning in a world of unspeakable fear and supernatural horror, he studies psychology, religion, mythology and, medical hypnosis. Unwilling to be imprisoned by his second life, he continues his productive work in entertainment and even undertakes many creative enterprises, including the thrilling invention of artificial heart, courageous projects for someone consumed by a secret terrifying nightmare.
From the crude supernaturalism of his own mother, Clara Wilchin, a woman obsessed with hellfire and damnation to the friendship and suave showmanship of mentor, Edgar Bergen; from the powerful friendship of Ed Sullivan which helped him achieve national notoriety to the uncaring contempt of the wife of an early marriage, from the fierce seductiveness of his Latin mistress, Rosetta Solares to the cruel indifference of Frank Sinatra; from his friendly competitor, Ronald Reagan, who he beat in a national soap box race to the unquenchable loyalty of Major Bowes, his first sponsor and lifelong friend – WINCH is filled to the brim with unforgettable characters and alliances, some powerful friendships and some terrifying betrayals.
The book, which has also spawned a screenplay, is part of a larger plan of Paul Winchell's to not only tell the story of his life in this one book, but to develop a series of books and films that will renew, revitalize and project many of his old characters into a new twenty-first century format. "“To this end, as I have stated in my introduction, I have somewhat fictionalized my story - partly to protect certain identities. I hope that there are those who have been abused in this way that will profit from my story and perhaps there are those who will re-examine their relationships to present and future children on the basis of this narrative.
"Although this is an adult book – and, believe me, it is nothing but an adult book – it is my belief that this book will enable me to rekindle some of my old shows and reformulate my new approach to children'’s broadcasting. I am attempting to recapture some of my own fans and audience as a prelude to a massive attempt to change the nature of children's broadcasting, not by talking about it, but by doing it. At this very moment, we are beta testing PAUL WINCHELL'S KIDS'’ NETWORK, a worldwide streaming children's website, which will initially feature my vintage shows and some other very recognizable shows. Within the children's network, we are developing an animation team that will do some in-house work, but also work on a major cartoon series, featuring my old characters in a new light."”
"I cannot emphasize enough, however, that this book is a prelude to three other books and films that are a somewhat fanciful retelling of the story I have told in WINCH. Not only is WINCH currently in screenplay form, but I have already invested in a set of screenplays that will form the basis of a science fiction trilogy that I believe will rival Star Wars, Fellowship of the Rings, Back to the Future – and other highly successful franchise efforts. In my case, unlike the others I am speaking of, I have actually practiced before. I would hate to count the number of Hollywood celebrities who played with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff and gave ventriloquism a whirl in their childhoods. You can read about David Copperfield'’s efforts in his introduction to the new edition of my next book, Ventriloquism for Fun and Profit. But people like Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Ted Knight, Johnny Carson – even Howard Stern – were all taken by ventriloquism when they were younger- and I daresay the efforts of my franchise and my merchandising made an impression."
I suddenly have only one ambition in my life: GET WINCH!


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diumenge, 30 de novembre de 2008

Today I have gone to the Lluis birthay party in Marta's home in Sabadell.

Lluis is the biggest sonn of Marta, and Marta is the girlfriend of my father.

In the party we have ate salad, mushrooms, "canalons" and bithay cake with 9 candles.

Now lluis is 9 years old :)

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text:
Contact us

Register as a Client

If you would like to register as a Client of Turama please fill in your details in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
More Details
Physical Address *
Website *

Tipani Tours

PO Box 240 ,
Avarua ,
Rarotonga ,
Cook Islands

Reservation: +(682) 55035


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text:
Latest News
  • News1
  • News 2
Founder Principal's Message

                                    Be your own Destiny Maker
Shri Deepak Rathore: The school is the brainchild of its founder Principal Deepak Rathore. The accomplished academician, with a scientific bent of mind and perfectionism, dedicated himself to the achievement of his cherished goal. With rock solid mission and farsighted vision he nurtured the school with tenacity, untiring efforts, unflinching commitment, unwavering enthusiasm, firm conviction and scientific approach.
The outcome was expectedly amazing - in a short span of only five years from 1997 to 2002 the sapling grew steadily to become a gigantic banyan tree providing soothing shadow to its increasingly large number of students.

Mr. Deepak Rathore.


text:
another new friend.

I am a lucky son of a bitch,
my new friend is so freakin' awesome!
qwik research and serial tell me 1980,

spokes & sneakers look & feel a little iffy,
but otherwise, this rig is pretty fuckin' tight.

pics can do the rest of the talking, needs
just a little bit of TLC to get rollin',
but we'll take our time and do it right.

CabbageHead said...

Radio Freddy said...

Bee-U-ti-ful. A keeper for sure.


text:
Girl Talk

It’s amazing how much fun girls have talking endlessly about things that have absolutely no substance.

Then we got tired and decided to try something new.

Special thanks to Panera for free WiFi and not kicking me out for bringing delicious Orange Blossom Green Tea (a must try!) from elsewhere (aka Starbucks)

© 2010, Tomi. All rights reserved.

  2 comments for “Girl Talk

  1. Rose
    October 3, 2010 at 10:52 pm

    kekeke I like! ok I should crop and post profile pic hehee

  2. leah
    October 4, 2010 at 5:50 am

    that’s what being girls is about!!!!! always have something to talk about even though its nonsense, I think it was a good bonding time bet friends:)

Leave a Reply


text:
Page Kendig Lite Industries Professional Services Page

Kendig Lite Industries (KLI) provides professional software and web services including:

If you are looking for current Kendig genealogy and/or Kendig gathering/reunion (the next will be in 2014) web content and information, please go to

This page available at since 11th September 1999, on the Internet since 1994.

This page was last changed on 24 April 2013

Home | Resume | View Tom Kendig's profile on LinkedIn | Contact Us


text:
18 March 2008

DVD photo movie

Introducing DVD photo movie.

There is a lot of confusion out there about what this is....so I decided to make things a little bit clearer.
Its a DVD made from Photos into a movie.

There.....I said it.
Some would use the term photo montage or photo collage but these simply means collection of photos .....which could mean a large print with lots of smaller picture.

Here's a sample of my DVD Photo movie.

Enjoy .....

Tristine DVD photo movie

12 March 2008

Website is Up

After a few frustrating minutes, which seems to be an eternity.......
the website is up and running again.

Thanks for your patience.
Any one who notice the site down and complaints first to me
will be entitled to 10% discount on whatever package you choose :D
( but not when I notice it first ) hehehehee

06 March 2008

tommyleong.com website is temporary down

Due to some technical hardware malfunctioning, tommyleong.com is temporarily down.
It is being serviced now and should be up in no time.
( that's what the technical people tell me )

Meantime, browse around for some interesting reads

Glorious Olympus E420

Glorious ! Absolutely glorious.....
I knew someone would respond to the market niche , a camera for the photographer to shoot on the weekend..........Before this annoucement by Olympus of this latest camera, most photographers who like a small camera for the weekend casual stroll are not given much choice.
You either go for the big SLR or you go for the small, frustratingly difficult to control Point and shoot cameras.

Today, Olympus announce the smallest DSLR with interchangeable lens that is JUST what we all want......just my size !

Olympus of old film days, used to be a leader but with digital they were behind some of the big names. BUT it seems like Olympus is making a big come back. They are now by far the MOST innovative camera maker.

Lets hope they keep it up.


text:
Sunday, March 13, 2016

Enjoying The Process!

I  just got back from the last day of the retreat.  It was lots of fun. I was awed at how much everyone got done, including me!!!  It ended at five (the new five as of today!) but Linda and I and lots of others left earlier by two or more hours.  No one wanted to be the only one left!!

Here are some of the work that went on.

This is the almost finished top done by Lynn that was started in a Karen Combs class at FKQG  All is pieced but the falling down black people.

Lynn, Linda and I made these pods that can hang off a hook and used for storage.  I plan on making more in the future.  Mine is the last in the row.

Charlotte did this quilt with some Marcia Derse fabric.

Joy completed most of a good sized Halloween quilt.

Chris finished up all the block parts in this top and then spend much time sewing all the pieces together.

I love this quilt.  It looks as if it has dimension.

Karla had made a quilt and decided she wanted to cut it in half and make a couple lap quilts for charity. She managed to get both of them completely quilted.  What a great idea!

1 comment:

Robbie said...

Crazy about that lap quilt in last pic! Cool!


text:
Sunday, July 27, 2014

Hi Family and Friends,
I recently created a picture book and hopefully can share it on my blog. Jason and Stella visited us last March and I wanted to send Stella a book to remember their visit.  She is almost 3 and loves books! I'm posting it here:

Picture Book

Have a great weekend and thank you for letting me share my wonderful kids with you!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

From the Heart

Hello, it's me...posting on my blog again!  I've missed talking to you! Good thing is, I am still at the same place in my house redo as when I left, so the excitement of peeling off painted-over wallpaper is still there for you!

The past year has been the hardest one since a year in the 60's when I lost my Dad. When I think of it, how fortunate and blessed I have been for that much time to have passed with good years!!  In June of this year, I lost my best friend.

She is actually the inspiration for my blog name 'Tomorrow at Tara'.  She was Scarlett; I was Melanie.  We loved all things Southern and considered ourselves such having grown up in Oklahoma.  We would sign off our texts and emails with "Tomorrow is anotha' day" or " Tara".  It meant for whatever our troubles were that we couldn't solve together, there was always tomorrow!  Tara represented a place of solace for us...a place of majesty, beauty and hope.

That's what we need some :)

So, I went to Louisiana.  It was the best thing I could have done.  Although every Live Oak and white column made my heart hurt, I have blessings beyond measure living there. They were full of healing, fun, laughter, exquisite memories and love. Life goes on without our loved ones that have passed onto Heaven.  I don't think I'll ever be over it, but our memories!!  I'm smiling now!!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie.  I love you.

Tomorrow is anotha day...

Friday, September 21, 2012

It's Fall Eve!

Hello Great Friends!

It's the day before Fall, 2012, and a beauty of a morning in Colorado.  I've been up since 4:30, so I am running on a full tank of coffee ready to write!

Actually, I have been thinking about you in my head for days and just now have remained sitting long enough to put fingers to keys.

A short "catch-up" is in store on this blog.  I have been writing about my redecorating ideas but not making too much headway.  Do you ever do that?  My next project is my kitchen, but it is expensive!  Therefore, I make SURE it is what I want before I begin.  First I had to decide: Do I really need granite?  Wow!  Talk about precious stones!  Why can't formica be stylish? ha!  Oh, it is now so much prettier than the gold fleck of the 60's, but as I considered each surface...corian....butcher block....stone....granite IS so beautiful.  It feels cool to the touch, it's earthy, solid, and it can sell a house.  Not that I'm moving, but if I ever do, the buyer will love me more..hehe.

So, I have decided on a color design now for the countertops and the closest to my taste is called 'Giallo Veneziano'. I would insert a picture for you, but I'll explain my iphoto debacle later.  Whoo-boy...what a mess there...

The countertops being the biggest decision (I hope), there is the backsplash to consider, the sink, faucet, paint color and finally, the cabinets. The cabinet color I have saved for last because I KNOW I'm not replacing them, so they will either be painted, refinished or just cleaned up and renewed.  I am calling the same contractor that did my bathroom to coordinate all of this. Now, a true DIY'er would be her own contractor and schedule the granite man, plumber, electrician and painter.  Good for her. ha!  Hang with me, I'll document the progress whenever it gets started!

I just got back from a week visit in my hometown to stay with my mom and son and family.  My Magnificent Grandbaby (MMGB) will be one year old next month!  She is walking, saying Ma-Ma and Da-Da, dancing, laughing and struttin' her stuff!  Oh, what a personality!  To say "love her" is too tame.  I adore her. It usually takes me 24 solid hours to recoup from a 12 hour drive back home.  So, I'm off and running now!  Glad to be back at ~Tara~ !!

Friday, August 31, 2012

Prior Post - What?

Hi folks,
It's been a wonderful summer in spite of my last post.  That one has been held in "draft" since June!  I wrote it late one night and the next day decided not to publish, but something made me keep it on hand for tweeking.  I sent it on just now, untweeked!  What can I say?  It was one of those days.

I have really missed writing, but have been reading so many other totally talented writers!  Oh, they are funny and smart! Stay at home Moms, mostly, trying to make money blogging. The more readers you have, the more the ads pay off and sponsors you acquire.  They insert beautiful pictures taken with the greatest of cameras and lighting. (I use my cell phone) They blog every single day documenting every recipe they try, home decorating project, and provolking thought they might have.  I am totally engrossed in some of their lives!  One of them I actually "miss" when she doesn't blog! I wonder if she's sick or the baby is keeping her up!  She is the sweetest thing.....

So, yeah I'm feeling better.  I LOVE my older home and my view is so peaceful even without a Front Range overlook.  I'm truly blessed and I know it....

Oh! I'm redoing my kitchen!  Let me get my cellphone to snap some professional pics!

It's a Turn Down Day....

Happy Summer Day to You!  We here in Denver are not only "atmospherically challenged" (we're closer to the sun), but we are breaking heat records daily in the triple digits!  Digging out all our SPF-coated hats so our brains do not broil while we walk the trails!  Don't ever tell a Coloradan not to hike, with a hat, and a dog, on a trail.  Just fore-warnin' ya'.  You'll get smacked, then laughed at for being a Tourista.

Now that that is out of the way, I'm breaking with tradition in this blog.  Cardinal Sin One.  "Don't stray from point of blog".  My cue to break it!  Rebel that I am insures I go on. This has been a downer of a day, people. I can't even pick my fisted arm up in the air and say, "Tomorrow is anotha day!"  The day began by getting up too late for church...

Church and the message therein stimulate my soul and spirit.  Friends of mine that inspire me are there and reveal the personhood of Jesus to me.  Oh, I do know He's here, and I have real evidence of His existence, but church is filled with brothers and sisters who have the same "heart" as me.  Sparks fly when that happens!  Ideas flow, lightbulbs go off, kindness is abundant, patience shows.  Well, church is just where it happens, that's all.  So I missed that first off.

We chose to hang out with God in nature today.  Corwina Trail was the hikette of choice...a short uphill challenge and we had Mia with us, my beautiful 2 year old Border Collie. Shown here in her common pose....ready for departure.

We were gone about 1.5 hours tired and thirsty, but glad we went.  We ate our lunch of quiche and canteloupe, and found our way to the living room couch.  Such relaxation.

My afternoon plans were to go house hunting with my Sis.  It would be fun!  I thought.  "....maybe I can find a one story with a view like we have wanted since we arrived here."  No one told me you had to have ~minimum~ a half million bucks to buy one of these suckers!  Even Tara would shutter her windows and door transomes at that!  My gosh, living shelters have to be attainable to at least more that a handful of lucky ducks!  Just sayin'....tryin' to be tolerant here, but I am taking up this space to ask: ....why can't we find pretty, new homes with 2500 feet, ranch style, patio facing the Front Range for sale on decently spaced lots for 2.5 to 3.5 hundred thousand anywhere?  Oh, and not under the DIA flight patterns.  That's a last minute request that I decided was as important as sinks and toilets.

So these realizations gave this post it's title today.  And yes, it is late,  and I am in a mood, but ToMorrow IS anotha' day.....thank God!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Hello Everyone!

I must really apologize for the tardiness of this post.  I admit I let time get away from me.  I'm 'eva' so sorry!

I have been working, however.  After painting the stair risers, I did find an interesting runner for them and had it installed. It adds so much character already to this 50 years young home!  I'm excited about it!

I can't say I am completely finished with my stairs.  The banisters still  cause me anguish, and if you must laugh, I'm painting the risers *a.g.a.i.n.* with a slightly creamier color to match the new runner better.  I would never decorate for money.  The clients would shoot me dead!

...and... the walls of the staircase are screaming for pictures upon them. That part will be fun!  Can't wait.  I have some exciting ideas for that.

All in due time!  I have been focusing my attention on two more things ~ is this what they mean by ADD?  I like it!! ~ anyway:

1) I want to carpet the entire upstairs now!  We have wood floors and it is "clop, clop, clop" constantly.  My husband prefers to just carpet the landing and stop at the 4 doorways instead.  All I can say is...we are working on this :}  Here are samples of 3 colors of carpeting I am considering, looking downstairs, lightest to darkest, and that's Mia in the middle of it all:

All opinions and greatly appreciated!  I know it's hard judging from an iphone pic...even tho I DID choose this phone for picture quality...

2) The kitchen. I have new stainless appliances but the dishwasher is still out in the garage awaiting new countertops before it's installed.  Before new countertops, I must decide if I am changing the color of my cabinets.

Some very good options have been posted on Pinterest  It's just the deciding part...white/cream...darker like walnut....lighter like a fruitwood...the only thing I'm not crazy about is the yellow/orangey oak that's up there now.  I know they look  pretty tame from here, but take this picture I shot up close:

I see you nodding your heads at me, "She's right, Pansy, that door be orangey yella!"

Will this house ever be completed?

I experienced kind of a lull in my enthusiasm on all of this remodeling with the events detailed in a previous blog.  I got content just looking at things the way they were for awhile. Then last week, the house across the street, similar to our house, sold for a ridiculously high price!  Seriously!  We were stunned!  I fired up the Zillow site and studied the pictures - 20 of them! - and although they had taken down a wall and added a new bedroom, it was basically our house!  They had updated and remodeled and spruced everything up and POW~sold it big!  That's what bolted me back into action!

OK, it's late~ See you Tomorrow at Tara!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Hello My Wonderful Friends!

Many days have passed since I asked you to help me decide about my wallpaper dilemma!  Thank you for all of your helpful replies and we have a winner!  I was directed to a YouTube tutorial showing how to sand, spackle, sand again, then paint OVER my wallpaper once more to achieve a flawless, smooth wall. than stripping already painted paper off and dealing with what lies behind it.  I want to thank you all for your help!  I'll post and picture the whole experience for you in a future blog.  Here is the link to the great tutorial on YouTube that I am going to use when I begin my kitchen makeover: *Prepping to paint over wallpaper*.  Just in case you have the same problem and want to tackle this with me!!

......February was "heart month" for me and my family.  My stepdad, Glen, passed away from a heart attack on February 7.  He lived 85 wonderful years and brought joy, laughter, love...and pizza into our lives.  He loved Tuesday Pizza Nights at Pizza Hut and if you were at my parents' house on that had pizza too.  I can't tell you the moans and groans we used to give when we all piled into the cars and caravanned to 'the Hut' on those nights. ~~ But today, we smile about it and the word "pizza buffet" brings a tug to our hearts. We will always miss and love you dear Glen....... about mid month, while staying with my mother, 658 miles from my home where my husband had returned....I got a call from the Emergency Room saying my sweetheart of 35 years had also just suffered a heart attack!  I flew quickly to back to Denver as did our son, leaving his wife and our Magnificent Baby Granddaughter at home.  For 5 days we stayed at his bedside in ICU.  I am so thankful and thrilled to say that now, three weeks later, he is recovering nicely and even going back to work on Monday.  We thank God for giving him a longer life and our friends for their concern and diligent prayers.  Life is definitely fragile....and very precious.

OK, so now we are beginning our Heart Healthy Phase!  I checked out several books from the library:

I know you are laughing at me, but I'm jumping into this!  The first thing we did was decide to eat FOF and FOT.....Fish on Friday, and Fish on Tuesday.  Tonight was Tilapia, breaded in Panko crumbs and Mrs. Dash, then baked, Annie's Organic, Low Salt Macc and Cheese and steamed veggies.  It was a 'hit' with the patient and with me!  I have found out some really good foods to buy, substitutes for the salty taste, and a ton of tasty low fat recipes!  I'll be blogging them as I try them to give you a heads up on having a happy heart!

Do you have any tips or tricks to cooking for a healthier heart?  Write and let me know!!  Thank you and may you and your families have a happy, healthy Spring!....XO


text:
News Country 15/09/2017

Taylor Hicks To Release New Single "Six Strings And Diamond Rings" On September 29, 2017

Taylor Hicks To Release New Single "Six Strings And Diamond Rings" On September 29, 2017

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) American Idol winner and Platinum-selling soul singer Taylor Hicks will release "Six Strings and Diamond Rings" on September 29. The long-awaited single is Hicks' first taste of new music released in seven years and features a collaboration with Robert Randolph of 'Robert Randolph and the Family Band.'

The single is the first from Hicks' forthcoming album, set to release in early 2018 via SonyRED/Modern Whomp Records.

"I've always heard that for an artist to become successful you have to live and breathe the art that you are making. Six Strings and Diamond Rings personifies that for me in every way," says Hicks of his new single.

Recorded in Nashville at Zac Brown's iconic Southern Ground Studio and written by Jason Deer, Jo-Smith and Don Rollins and mixed by Jim Cooley, "Six Strings and Diamond Rings" is a glimpse into Hicks' journey through the years, with lyrics like:

Sometimes I dream of picket fence, a fridge covered in pictures and yard full of kids.
A woman who meant it when she said I do, then I wake up in a hotel room.
The Highway, ain't home for nothing but a heart ache. It just gets lonely and it still takes everything and more.

In my life now, a flame gets started but it burns out in the lights and nights of a new crowd, it's what I'm living for.

Love is just a song I sing, because six strings are hard on diamond rings.
In the midst of recording his new album and continuing to tour, Hicks has also been on the road hosting the INSP original series, State Plate, which airs on Fridays at 8:00pm Eastern. State Plate takes Hicks across the country in search of the states' most iconic cuisines. Hicks landed himself a feature column in USA Today after last week's stop in Missouri. The article increased viewership 25%, making it the highest watched episode this season. View the USA Today columnhere.

To learn more about Taylor Hicks, visit taylorhicks.com or follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Sep 30 Franklin Theatre, Franklin, Tenn.
Oct 21 The Palace Danbury, Danbury Conn.
Nov 14 BB King Blues Club, New York, N.Y.
Dec 8 Red Rock Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nev.
Dec 9 Blue Water Resort & Casino, Parker, Ariz.
Dec 10 The MIM, Phoenix, Ariz.
Taylor Hicks is one of the most beloved and popular AMERICAN IDOL winners of all time. From the start, Hicks' material on the mega-hit show set him apart, with a unique take on Southern soul, Country, R&B, and blues. Sixty-four million votes were cast and nearly 37 million American viewers and more than 200 million viewers worldwide tuned in to crown Hicks the Season 5 winner of AMERICAN IDOL, making it one of the most-watched TV events of the last decade. While he still continues to tour, Hicks' talents have expanded beyond the music and performance realms and carried over to television, where he plays host on the INSP original series, State Plate. Now in its second season, Hicks hits the road, traveling the nation in search of the state's most symbolic and popular foods. From appetizers to desserts and everything in between, Hicks take a heaping helping of America in this hit show.

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Most read news of the week
Moth Wings Drop The Guitars For Chilled Out New Single "Sleepy Eyes"
Deluxe Edition Of Norah Jones' Acclaimed Album "Day Breaks" Set For October 27 Release
Milwaukee's Telethon Debut Video For "Succinct, The Optimist"; 'The Great Spontanean: A Tale Told In Five Acts' Out September 29 On Halloween Records
Nightrage Sign With Alpha Omega Management, To Tour With Firewind In December!
Fergie Drops 'You Already Know' Video With Nicki Minaj
'Hand In Hand' Hurricane Relief Telethon Raises Over $44 Million
DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar & Cardi B Lead The Bet "Hip Hop Awards" 2017 With 9 Nominations Each
Jessie J Confirms New Album 'R.O.S.E.' And Single Details
Your Chance To Die Announce The "Defeating The Weak" Tour
San Francisco Music Producer & Graphic Artist Unknown Hereo To Release Debut Album
Superstar DJ Steve Aoki Scores Exclusive Music For Non-Dance, High Intensity Program 'Strong By Zumba'
Life Lessons' New EP 'Best When In Motion' Out Now; Band On Tour With Four Year Strong
A Drunken Man's Delusions
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text:
Best selling games

Best selling games:

1) Cards Against HumanityCards Against Humanity

Price: $25.00
550 cards (460 White cards and 90 Black cards)
Over 13 duodecillion possible rounds (10^40) with 6 players
Professionally printed on premium playing cards
Includes game rules and alternate rules, shrink-wrapped in a custom box
America’s #1 gerbil coffin

Product Description:
Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people. Unlike most of the party games you’ve played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends.

The game is simple. Each round, one player asks a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card.

2) Cards Against Humanity: First Expansion
Cards Against Humanity- First Expansion

Price: $10.00

100 NEW cards (80 White cards and 20 Black cards)
12 bonus blank cards (8 blank White cards and 4 blank Black cards)
Professionally printed on premium playing cards (100% compatible with Cards Against Humanity)
Now with 40% more brand synergy
Lovingly crafted by the tiny hands of heartwarming orphans

Product Description:
The first official expansion for Cards Against Humanity, featuring 80 brand-new white cards, 20 brand-new black cards, and, for the first time, blank cards which will allow you to seamlessly add your own inside jokes to the game.

3) Manhattan Toy Winkel Rattle and Sensory Teether Activity ToyManhattan Toy Winkel Rattle and Sensory Teether Activity Toy

Price: $7.64

This mesmerizing maze of safe, soft, continuous tubes is perfect for a teething baby to chew on
Safe, teethable plastic loops are BPA free
Visually appealing to babies, it also promotes clutching and two-handed play,and the middle piece contains a pleasing rattle sound
4.5-Inch in diameter, for ages 0-24 months
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award 2013

Product Description
Package Quantity: 1

Manhattan Toy Winkel Rattle and Teether

Imaginations at Play!
Time Honored Classic

The Winkel rattle and teether, by Manhattan Toy, is an award winning classic, a true “must have” for parents and infants. Its maze of soft, continuous tubes and its stunning colors instantly capture and hold baby’s attention. The mesmerizing loop design and lightweight construction make it very easy for little hands to grab, hold and rattle – a perfect clutching toy to engage baby’s gross motor skills. The center cube features a quiet rattle so baby can explore sound and cause and effect. The soft, pliable loops are BPA-free for teething or gumming babies. Winkel can also be refrigerated to provide a more soothing experience for particularly sore baby gums and teeth. Winkel’s patented design and developmental features have made it a baby favorite, parent “go to” for over 25 years.

Award Winner

For over 30 years, Manhattan Toy has been making award-winning, high quality, visually appealing toys for babies, toddlers and kids. Our Winkel rattles and teethers have long been recognized for their unique developmental features and continue to receive accolades after 25 years of play. The Winkel’s most recent honors include the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award and the Special Needs Adaptable Product Award in 2013. All of our products, from the newest concepts to our time-tested classics, are innovatively designed to inspire imaginative play and delight our customers.

Manhattan Toy Manifesto

Once upon a time, back when “text” was still a noun, and not every toy had batteries, there was a little toy company that set out to become the best toy company ever. Not because it endeavored to make a more loveable teddy bear or a truck that turns into a wristwatch, but because it endeavors to make a difference. This little company called Manhattan Toy recognizes that we are profoundly influenced by what we play with. That in every little pair of hands lies not a marketing opportunity, but a chance to positively affect the future. That having a sense of humor means the difference between enduring life, and enjoying it. If it doesn’t contain a wink and smile, it isn’t worth making. We remember every day that every invention on this earth, be it as complex as a Hadron collider, or as humble as Tupperware, as life-saving as penicillin or as life-altering as the Cronut, was dreamed into existence. We remember that the most powerful thing any of us within this life, is our imagination.

Additional Winkel Rattle and Teether Features

Lightweight design with soft tubes makes it easy and safe for little hands to grasp
Can be safely refrigerated to provide a more soothing experience for sore gums
Enclosed rattle in center cube helps reinforce cause and effect learning
Additional Winkel styles include Colorburst Winkel, Zoo Winkel Owl, and Zoo Winkel Lion


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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler is a compact four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle (SUV) and an off-road vehicle manufactured by American automaker Chrysler, under its Jeep marque – and now in its fourth generation. It is a successor to the famous World War II 'Jeep' vehicle by way of the Willys civilian Jeep (CJ) in the 1950s, later produced by Kaiser-Jeep and by American Motors (AMC). The Wrangler debuted in 1987, was revised in 1997 and again in 2007. Wranglers continue to use live axles both front and rear as with their predecessor, the CJ. Each Wrangler model has received a designation in addition to the nameplate Wrangler corresponding to their generation: YJ (1987–1995), TJ (1997–2006), LJ's (2004-2006 Unlimited models) and JK (2007–present). Military versions of the Wrangler have carried the J8 designation. YJ models were manufactured between 1987 and 1992 in Brampton, Ontario and subsequently at the Toledo South Assembly plant until mid-1995. TJ and LJ models were subsequently manufactured in Brampton, Ontario as well. After that plant's razing, JK models have been at the Toledo North Assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio. The Jeep YJ, sold as the Wrangler, replaced the much-loved but slower-selling Jeep CJ in 1987 and was built in Brampton, Ontario, Canada until the plant closed on April 23, 1992. Production was then moved to Toledo, Ohio using the same plant that produced the Willys Jeeps back in WWII. The American Motors Corporation (AMC) had designed the new jeep to be more comfortable on-road in an attempt to attract more daily drivers. It was a new design with a wider track, slightly less ground clearance, and more comfort. The YJ also had a leaf spring suspension similar to that of the CJ, however, the springs were wider, and the YJs sported trackbars and swaybars for improved handling. Despite the new grill, the body is very similar to the CJ7's, and it is interchangeable with some minor modifications. The YJ also was given a larger windshield over the CJ. The YJs are easily identifiable due to the rectangular headlights, disliked by some Jeep aficionados, and the fact that the wiper blades rest on the windshield giving this version a distinctive look. The blades rested on the windshield due to the now wider arc of the blades to clean the now larger windshield. These two changes were later removed when the TJ changes came about in 1996. 632,231 YJs were built through model year 1995, though YJs were still produced into mid '96 bringing the total production number to 685,071 units.

2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

From 1988 until 1993, Jeep produced an options package known as the "Islander". Several colors were offered, such as Bright Red, Sunset Yellow, Teal, and White, and both engines were offered.From 1991 until 1994, Jeep produced an options package on the YJ Wrangler listed as the "Renegade Decor Group". Initially, all Renegades were White, Black or Red. In 1992, Blue was added, in 1993, Bronze. The Renegade Decor Group was a $4,266.00 option over a base Wrangler in 1991 and included special alloy wheels, exclusive body flares, along with many other features.The Wrangler Rubicon (named for the famed Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevada Mountains) was introduced in 2003. It featured front and rear Dana 44 axles with built-in air-actuated locking differentials, 4:1 low-range NV241OR transfer case, 4.10:1 differential gears, diamond plate rocker panels, 16-inch alloy wheels, and Goodyear MTR P245/75-R16 tires. 2003 to 2004 featured a standard NV3550 five-speed manual transmission, which changed in 2005 to the NSG370, a Mercedes-sourced six-speed. The optional 42RLE four-speed automatic transmission was available from 2003 to 2006.In 2004, Jeep introduced the Wrangler Unlimited (unofficially dubbed "LJ") with a 10-inch (250 mm) longer wheelbase (LWB), a Dana 44 rear axle with a 3:73 gear ratio and the Command-Trac 231 transfer case. In 2005, Jeep released the Rubicon Unlimited, which has the wheelbase of the Unlimited and the off-road features of the Rubicon such as front and rear Dana 44 axles with locking differentials, diamond plate rocker guards, an NVG241OR transfer case with a 4:1 low range, 245/75R16 Goodyear MT/R tires, a six-speed manual transmission and other comfort and convenience options not offered on other Wranglers. This model of the Jeep Wrangler has nearly double the towing capacity than its shorter wheelbase sibling due to the increased wheelbase size.

The 2010 model added a new easier to fold/open soft top, standard UConnect on models equipped with the MyGig radio, and new sun visors that offer more coverage than the old models, as well as integrated vanity mirrors. The Jeep Wrangler received the 2009 Best Resale Value Award from Kelley Blue Book (KBB) in the Sport Utility Vehicle category. The Wrangler also holds the "Models to Best Hold Its Value" recognition from Kelley Blue Book for 1999, 1998, and 2003. The 2008 edition of Forbes Autos lists the four-wheel-drive convertible Jeep Wrangler at number four among the top ten vehicles with the highest resale value. In May 2009, Business Week magazine named the Wrangler "One of the Most Iconic Cars of the Last 20 Years." In September 2008, Chrysler Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda unveiled a range-extended electric 4-door Wrangler along with similarly engineered Town and Country minivan and a purely electric sports car. The Wrangler would have a 40-mile (64 km) range before a gas engine starts and begins supplying additional electricity. However, in November 2009 Fiat SpA disbanded Chrysler's ENVI electric car division and dropped these models from future product plans.

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Sunday, September 11, 2011

2010 Mini Beachcomber Concept

Beachcomber Concept MINI crosses borders with new dimensions of driving pleasure, and winner of several hearings by expanding the model range and creativity of the MINI design. MINI shows growth potential of the product range of more and more driving pleasure with improved MINI Concept Beachcomber. This new concept vehicle will be proudly presented by MINI at the Salon of 2010 North American International Auto (16-24 January 2010) in Detroit.
MINI Beachcomber Concept is a concept of four-seater designed for maximum driving pleasure, which includes key elements of the new MINI and combine them with the vision of a radically open concept of the body.

The new four-wheel drive, and a flexible internal All4 make Beachcomber Concept Mini is an active and spontaneous. It 'was designed without doors or a conventional roof and all the other parts of the body, which may limit the intensity of the residents in their encounter with the world around them. This allows the driver and up to three passengers to connect with their surroundings - whether cruising through town, enjoying the rough tracks in the mountains, or breeze along the beach. Vehicle use of space, a partnership with a modern transmission technology ensures a very exciting.
MINI Beachcomber concept combines all-wheel drive, advanced suspension and a high seating position. Travel generous and extra large alloy wheels to lift the entire car to the next level. Access to the front and rear seats is very useful for open house thank you. Input cuts extending all the way to the bottom of the seat, allowing the driver and all passengers entering and leaving a smooth, fluid process.

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‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Sadie Robertson Reveals the Key to Her Heart

Sadie Robertson — daughter of ‘Duck Commander’ CEO Willie Robertson (and of course granddaughter of Phil), made a big impact on Twitter yesterday by posting the key to her heart in a wonderful Tweet that quickly went viral…

Over 7,000 re-Tweets at last count and STILL going strong. If you agree with Sadie’s values, then please click her Tweet above and re-Tweet it!

h/t Twitchy

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Friday, April 1, 2011

The Moon Discussion

Ah yes, the moon is forever with us. A truly interesting topic indeed. Have any of you wondered what the odds are that we have a moon orbiting our planet that allows for perfect eclipses? Yes, that number is pretty slim. This is the only the tip of iceberg in what makes the moon so interesting. But today im focusing on something everyone is familiar with. The Apollo missions and man landing on the moon.

Let me begin by saying I do believe that man has walked on the moon. However, i don't believe it is wrong in anyway to believe that NASA and the U.S. government might have "faked" one or more of these missions and created a fake lunar surface here on Earth.

I was unsure how I should present this information, initially. I was originally just going to bullet point it and use pictures to support my claims. However, i think that'll take too much space and time. I did come across this Aussie kid. He has posted numerous videos, titled "MoonFaker" on the subject of fake lunar visits. I think this will be interesting enough to stretch out over several days. I know I kept saying that i was going to do another section on the Kennedy assassination, but i really just dont want to get more into that right now. I will get back to it, eventually, but just not now. As you seen this post is more of an introduction of the coming days, but we will dive into the first couple videos.

The Flags Are Alive
This is about a half hour worth of content so i understand if you dont have time or dont want to spend the time watching all of it. He addresses six main contentions people have that defend the real lunar landing. Scroll down to see an overall summary of the videos and how he defeats each one.

 His oppositions claims
  1. Dave could have brushed against the flag with his left arm as he went by.
  2. He could have kicked some dirt with his boot that hit the bottom of the flag.
  3. He could have pushed a mound of soil sideways that hit the bottom of the flagstaff.
  4. The impact of his boots on the ground as he ran past could have shaken the flagstaff.
  5. He might have been carrying a static charge which attracted that flag material.
  6. The flag could have been disturbed from emissions from the backpack.
But in reality
  1.  Initial movement clearly starts before astronauts passes flag.
  2.  Dirt traveling on the moon is quite visible and rarely goes higher then a meter. This is absolutely no signs of this.
  3.  (Same as 2)
  4.  Is no way near close enough and theres no visible evidence this occured. (His experiment was a little shaky here, imo).
  5.  Static electricity does not cause a flag to move, on Earth or on the Moon. And the flag initially moves away from the astronaut, it should be moving towards.
  6.  There is absolutely no sign of any sort of any kind of emission (water, oxygen, urine) being released. These are much more visible in a vacuum and are not present.

So there you have it. Just one aspect of this heated debate. I believe every one of his posts make perfect sense, the only one I'm a little skeptical about is number 4. He doesnt clearly prove that point IMO. So, as always, post your thoughts on the matter!

Thanks to Jarrah White for the videos, and WWu777 of for introducing the videos.

  1. I'm interested in conspiracies etc too, maybe all this is true! Mythbusters have a episode about this.

  2. Ah, the space race. Very intriguing subject. I have always been fascinated by it. Good post.

  3. I one saw a 60 minutes episode involving this at a kid, it scared the hell out of me - a 'news' show saying that aliens could live on the moon?

    Now I just laugh.

  4. You bring up some interesting points, I must say.

  5. I had a math teacher that pointed out a TON of stuff wrong with the moon landing. Definitely makes you wonder

  6. Interesting points. I, personally, don't really thing it's fake. I wouldn't be surprised if the government did fake it, though.

  7. You'll never know if it's fakes or real

  8. I get the feeling they're all fake, though, I'd love to see something real and concrete one day.

  9. There is very interesting.

  10. IMO the conspiracy theories related to this are a joke. We walked on the moon. AMERICA RULEZ

  11. Nice conspiracy theory. You're good in shaking everything I'm sure about :D

  12. Thats pretty interesting :P although i dont see what they would gain from faking it really.

  13. I'm sorry, but I'm not idiotic enough to believe that the moon landing was filmed in a Hollywood backlot.

  14. Is there wind on the moon?

  15. great stuff!

    I don't think there would be wind on the moon SOMS. lol

    +followed :)

    Come visit me

  16. That is really fishy-I have been reading some of your other posts...interesting stuff!


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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Doors Open Toronto

I blogged about the Doors Open event last week. If you did not read that blog, you can slip over and have a scan to catch up if you like. Just go here.

I did not go to one building that I had on my list! I did go to a bunch of others. I had been listening to CBC radio promote the event all week and they were focusing on buildings that would have events going on at the building as well as just the tour of the building itself. After listening to that all week, I had a different idea of which places I should try and get to. Add to that unexpected long line ups at some of the ones I was interested in and a bit of spontaneity on my part and well- I just ended up seeing a different set of buildings.

Let me tell you about it. As you may recall from my earlier blog, I came back from Gopher Broke Farm on Sunday morning so I could at least do one day of the event. So I headed out from home at about 12:00 and headed over to Union Station, our downtown train station.

There was a performance event being put on by the Diaspora Dialogues organization. This group had commissioned a bunch of short plays and readings which featured transportation a theme. This was a Lit City Event held in conjunction with Doors Open. I listened to one of the readings and decided to move on. I could have just hunkered down and enjoyed the 3 hours of performance but there was just not time.

According to their web site:
Diaspora Dialogues supports the creation and presentation of new fiction, poetry and drama that reflect the complexity of the city through the eyes of its richly diverse writers. Publishing and mentoring activities, as well as a monthly multidisciplinary performance festival, help encourage the creation of a literature that is vibrant and inclusive, while bringing these works to a wide audience. Diaspora Dialogues is supported by Maytree, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canadian Heritage, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation and TO Live With Culture.

There also was not time to wait for the next tour of the train station, besides, I found out that they do tours regularly on the last Saturday of the month every month for the small sum of $10! The tour takes you into all the places that are off limits to the public. The tour is organized by the Toronto Railway Historical Association. So another time for sure.

Next, I thought I would try the flat iron building I mentioned in my previous blog. The lineup was at least an hour, so I decided to forgo that one and strike out to the north and see what buildings I could find. Around the corner, I found the St. Lawrence Town Hall where there was an Opera, Atelier being performed. Unfortunately it was both in progress and full. I did get to look around the building and snapped a few pictures.

After that I struck out to the north west, thinking that I would end up at Old City Hall but see whatever else I could find in between.

I went by Massey Hall and then heard the sound of bagpipes! I just happened to be at Yonge Street at the right time to catch a parade! For those of you who have not been to Toronto, Yonge Street is Toronto's main street and it runs straight up the Centre of the city, north from Lake Ontario for about 2 hours by car! It is one of the longest uninterrupted roads, which is not a highway, that I know of. In any event, they had closed off half of it for the "Friends of Schizophrenics" parade. Actually, I caught up with them again later when I got to City Hall - they were doing a fund raising concert and had a rock band playing. After stopping a few minutes to watch the parade, I carried on to the west.

I lucked out to find the Church of the Holy Trinity without any line up and spent a good hour poking around the building and the grounds. This is a tiny church which opened its doors in 1847 which is today pretty much surrounded by the Eaton’s Centre – Toronto’s main tourist shopping destination. It is “Gothic in style and cruciform in plan” – according to the self guided tour information I picked up. The word "cruciform" means "a cross-shaped church". The church pews were to be available “rent free” and so it served the poorer immigrant folks for the early years of the City of Toronto. The inside is wonderful in architecture and the pipe organ is huge. I will finish with some photos from the interior. I was able to get to quite a few more buildings before the day ended, but that will need to keep for another day. I have run out of blogging time today.

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Did someone say stilettos?

Sky high heels are all the rage. Everything is tricking down(from haute couture) – although, when it reaches the consumer level, it’s slightly  more wearable.

In Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 show, we saw 10 inch heels(pictured left), which are also spotted on Lady Gaga in her music video Bad Romance. Some would consider these art, or even a weapon, but not quite a wearable shoe. But I must give the models credit, I couldn’t imagine walking down a runway in those.

Christian Louboutin isn’t missing a beat(when does he ever?). He recently launched his 5.5 inch crystal stiletto which is a take on the traditional champagne flute(pictured right). Okay, so 5.5 inches is no match for McQueens 10, but they are still amazing nonetheless.

Images courtesy of Style.com

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