text:
Success Story: From Janitor to Lecturer at the Same University

Success  Story: From Janitor to Lecturer at the Same University

By: Rogia al-Shafee

Khartoum,  Sudan (SUDANOW)- Sudanow presents the story of a miraculous success of a man who was a janitor in a university and became a professor in the same university. A man who served as a shepherd of camels and sheep and never attended school regularly until he reached 50 years of age and became a renowned writer who wrote hundreds of drama stories for Omdurman Radio that broadcast them in widely listened series.

The amazing success story of the extraordinarily ingenious man was related to SUDANOW by his youngest son Yassin who was born in 1975, graduated at a computer engineering faculty and presently operates as a computer maintenance technician and lecturer.

Yassin said his father Gareeb Mohamed Raji'e was born in Muafa Village, a suburb of Bara town in North Kordufan, about 600 km west of the national capital Khartoum. He frequented a number of Khalawi (Koranic schools), including that of Sheikh Awad, attended religious sessions in mosques of his village and then moved to the Khawat of Sheikh Taj al-Dinn in Um Dayogah Village, in the same area of Bara.

Like all other families in Sudan seeking a better and dignified system of living, his family moved to Bara town when he was seven and where he had an opportunity of enrolment in the primary school in which only the lucky boys would be admitted.

However, the family suddenly decided to return to the Muafa Village because the father at the time had an adverse opinion about pupils of schools and thus Gareeb missed an opportunity of education despite his desire in learning how to read and write and his ambition for a right future.

Upon returning to his village and like his peers, Gareeb worked as a shepherd and a farming worker .  A year later his father passed away and thereafter, he, at nine, and his mother took up the responsibility of taking care of the family's affairs. Yet, his hopes for resuming education revived when travelled again to Bara to work with an acquaintance of his father who had a small shop and who paid him five piasters a day (one pound equals 100 piasters). In that shop he began to earn commercial experience and continued learning the basics of reading and writing.

Gareeb returned to Muafa Village in 1944 during World War II and by that time, and through the trade operations, he perfected reading and writing skills. Then he moved to El-Obeid city, 700 km west of the national capital Khartoum, and served as a clerk before returning to Bara to work in the cereals market.

In 1948, Gareeb married and was begotten his elder son while he frequented religious learning lessons by a Bara Sheikh who taught Islamic jurisprudence, sayings of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), Koranic interpretation and Arabic Language.

He attended those lessons for four years until he was able to give fatwa (answers to Islamic questions) after the Sheikh, Eissa Mohamed Mukhtar had presented him with a fatwa certificate.

By incident, he travelled to Khartoum to treat his grandfather in Khartoum Hospital and the miracle began to develop when he ran short of money and had to find a job.

"I used to go and join manual labor seekers in Omdurman every day but in futility as no contractor was willing to choose me because of my clean appearance. Incidentally, a person working with the Religious Affairs hired me to make some refurbishments of an old house near Tigani al-Mahi Hospital. By the end of the job he told me that he would not mind, if I wanted, to stay in the house. Days later he told me that there were job opportunities in the recently opened Islamic University of Omdurman but, unfortunately, those jobs required reading and writing skills. When I told him that I was well versed in reading and writing, he immediately took me to the University and, on passing a test, I was appointed a janitor. The job also included serving 20 students residing in one house for nine pounds a month. The duties included cleaning cooking and guarding. My presence with those students was a great benefit to me as I used to listen to their discussions which centered on Islamic jurisprudence, interpretation of the Holy Koran and Arabic subjects of which I had a background. I used to go through their notes when they were away till I was able to share their discussions," Gareeb was quoted by his youngest son as relating.

Yassin went on to say that his father was a poet and used to write the four-line stanza of verses of Kordufan countryside and he possessed a fertile imagination of writing conversations and tales of persons he imagine they were in front of him and putting those in notes.

One of the students stumbled on those notes and upon reading them, they caught his admiration and suggested to Gareeb to take his work to the Sudanese Radio and the officials there found the notes acceptable and concluded agreement with him.

Thus Gareeb became a writer of drama in Radio Omdurman and wrote numerous serials which attracted most of the Radio listeners and have long remained in the memory of the Sudanese people.

From this stage, Gareeb strides towards glory began to widen.

 He used to sit down in the evenings with the students while they were revising their lessons collectively and sometimes he intervened in their discussions armed with what he had read heard and he had heard from them. One student, namely Bashir Ali Hamad al-Turabi, suggested to take him to the Grand Mosque of Omdurman during his leisure time to attend sessions on jurisprudence, Hadith (Prophet Mohammad's sayings) and interpretation of the Holy Koran so that he might obtain the certificate as a reference in Islamic matters.

Gareeb accepted the suggestion and regularly attended the sessions when he was in his fifties and then moved to the Islamic Institute of Omdurman and after one year he obtained a certificate that qualified him to enroll with the Islamic University of Omdurman as a student and graduated in 1978 at an age of 58. Upon graduation he was promoted from the status of worker to an administrator (workers' superintendent).

This achievement attracted the attention of the administration of the university as well as senior officials of the state and was patronized by late Culture and Information Minister Omar al-Hajj Mussa until he obtained the Master's Degree with distinction.

He was the first student to get the Master's Degree to be granted after the university opened its high studies faculty. Gareeb obtained this degree for a dissertation on hadith sayings narrated by leading narrator and close companion of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). The external examiner was Sheikh Al-Husseiny Abdul Majid Hashim of Cairo's Azhar University as there were no local professors specialized in this field.

As for the PhD, according to Yassin, it was another story, saying his father set out for it well after he was over 66. He said at the time they were living in their present house in Um Baddah, an Omdurman neighborhood, a makeshift house with no electricity or water supply. Yassin said they used to revise their lessons in the light of the kerosene lantern or candle.

"We were suffering, but the suffering of our father was something else. After his return from the work in the afternoon, he used to have a little rest and before sunset he had to walk for about two miles to a friend's house in which he was given a private room to read and write and collect information on the dissertation subject. At home we used to help him with some writings as he gave each of us a book to write down a number of specific pages. The dissertation was completed in 1989 but one day which we considered most miserable day, but our father or thought it was not: On that day, the dissertation, which was ready for typesetting, was burnt to ashes, years of efforts vanished in a moment. But my father was of a strong faith and a profound resolve ad determination,

knowing no despair; and his motto was: "Everything of a believer is good and everything chosen by God is good".

He started anew with indefatigable determination and enthusiasm and finished the dissertation on 'Monotheism as Proven by Ibn Khuzaimah' (an early Muslim scholar) in 1990, it was discussed and he obtained the PhD with distinction.

Then Gareeb began a career as a professor in the same university in which he served as a janitor and turned into a renowned lecturer and a distinguished scholar and gained admiration by all people who knew him and who were astounded by his diligence and his unique story of success.

Gareeb persistently continued studies and research until he obtained the professorship and was sent into retirement in 1994 and his house in Um Dabbah became a beacon of culture and science.

After retirement, he returned to his home area and birthplace: Muafa Village and with assistance of a benevolent Saudi citizen he managed to build a mosque annexed by a religious institute. And despite obstacles of robbing building materials and other acts of destroying what was built, he managed to complete the edifice with the help of his sons and it was inaugurated in 1998.

Gareeb waged war against illiteracy in the surrounding villages of Kordufan and he was invited by a number of villages to stay with them for delivering lectures and give religious lessons but despite temptation, he preferred to remain in Muafa on grounds that the priority was for his own village people.

Gareeb in his home village

Gareeb's fame expanded beyond Sudan to reach Saudi Arabia and he was asked to go there for work in Mecca and Medina universities but he preferred to remain in the Islamic University of Omdurman. On retirement, he accepted an offer by the Saudi Arabian embassy to serve as an Islamic preacher.

Besides this duty, he used to travel to different parts of Kordufan, disseminating moderate Islamic religious teachings until 2006 when one of his eyes got afflicted and he had to travel to Khartoum for treatment.

When all efforts of treatment failed, doctors decided to deactivate the nerves of the sick eye but they mistakenly made the operation on other wrong target: the healthy eye, depriving him of the entire eyesight and he came out of the hospital completely blind. Yet Gareeb refused to sue that famous hospital, arguing that it was God's will.

A major problem that faced Gareeb after losing his eyesight, was the inability to pursue his hobby of reading and writing and therefore he used to ask any passing-by person to pick up a certain book and read a specific chapter, but this did not satiate his desire.

He continued practicing his poetic and scientific activities and he remained teaching and pleasing others even when he reached 88 years of age, despite the blindness.

Gareeb remained in his home Muafa Village where he was born and brought up in its plains and valleys which inspired into him the talents of poetry, writing and fertile imagination and instilled resolve and patience into his spirit that led him to this accomplishment.

In 2003, the state awarded Gareeb a well-deserved decoration of science and arts.

Gareeb left behind a number of works and scientific research papers he wrote in addition to public contributions which were highly appreciated and so were his poetic talents that added to his attractive personality that earned him respect and consideration by everyone who was concerned with arts and literature.

Yassin did not forget his mother who, he said, had played a great role in patiently bringing up the children during the absence of their father Gareeb who used to stay in the hostels of the students as required by his job.

Strangely enough, the student who proposed to Gareeb to enter the University was among the professors who discussed his dissertation after becoming a professor in that University. It was Dr. Bashir Hamad al-Turabi.

When the result of the discussion was announced, Gareeb was awarded a special honoring by then University Vice-chancellor Kamil Al-Bagir who made the unforgettable statement: "Had Islam permitted statues, we would have made  a statues  of Dr. Gareeb at every entrance of this University."

Professor Gareeb died in 2011 at his son's house in Um Baddah, bloc 30 and his funeral to Hamad al-Neel Cemetery, Omdurman from his house in Um Baddah, bloc 8.

His son Mohamed has now started a mission of documentation of late professor Gareeb and is presently making a documentary film that will be shown in the near future

  1. walla mousa

    One of the greatest Sudanese characters(God bless his soul). his story is really an inspiring story ,l think he gave us a great lesson and confirmed that there is nothing impossible under the sun if we have aspiration and desire.

Post your comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sudanow is the longest serving English speaking magazine in the Sudan. It is chartarized by its high quality professional journalism, focusing on political, social, economic, cultural and sport developments in the Sudan. Sudanow provides in depth analysis of these developments by academia, highly ...

Recent tweets

FOLLOW Us On Facebook

Contact Us

Address: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) Building, Jamhoria Street, Khartoum - Sudan

Mobile:+249 909220011 / +249 912307547

Email: info@sudanow-magazine.net, asbr30@gmail.com


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Friday, November 17, 2006

More on "If I Did It"

One of the attorneys in my office forwarded me this link to an interview with the publisher of Simpson's "If I Did It." Interesting reading.

Another interesting piece forwarded to me is from the NY Daily News and contains comments from other publishers and some book stores.

Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

No comments:

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-45-104-224.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-51
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for December 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hot 'n Haunting - Emphasis on HOT

This was me this weekend, except for the slippers. After a fairly mild summer to date, California got hit with a heat wave - right on the final week of my deadline for Hot 'n Haunting. Seems appropriate, doesn't it?

Starting with Friday night after work, I glued myself to my computer for most of the weekend, pounding out the final chapters to the second book in my Ghost of Granny Apples mystery series.

I live on the 3rd floor in an apartment without AC. At 10 pm on Saturday evening, the thermostat in my apt read 90 degrees. And that was with 2 big fans running 24 hrs a day in the living room and one huge oscillating fan running in my bedroom/office. Sweat poured down my back, down my face, down my arms. Even over the computer mouse. I took cool showers twice a day and lived on stuff like yogurt, cottage cheese, and fresh fruit. Oh yeah, and some ice cream. The cats sprawled on the cooler linoleum in the entry hall and enjoyed the ice cubes I dumped into their water from time to time. Speaking of water, I think I drank my weight in it in the past couple of days.

Why, you ask, didn't I just leave and go someplace with AC to work? Because I write better when I'm at home at my desk top. And because Hot 'n Haunting is due to my publisher in 8 days. Yes, eight, ocho, VIII days!

So how did I do on my deadline this weekend? I'll tell ya straight out - I ROCKED! In spite of the brutal heat, I cranked out some of pretty cool stuff. And I'm so close to finishing, I not only can see the finish line, I can smell it.

Or is that me needing another shower?

1 comment:

Moe said...

The same thing happened to us weather wise. It was an unusually cool summer then all of a sudden two weeks before school started it was like the earth opened up and let out the exhaust--hot, humid and all around uncomfortable. We are still getting summer temps.


text:
New Fantastic Four Trailer is Up!

When you change the world, prepare to defend it. Watch the exclusive new trailer for Fantastic Four, in theaters this summer.
The following two tabs change content below.
Share this Story
Load More Related Articles
Load More By Sugar Gamers
Load More In Movies/Film

Check Also

What would you do to see them just one more time? – The Misplaced on Kickstarter

(Detroit, MI- April 12th, 2017) Source Point Press ...


text:
PT Sumisho Global Logistics Indonesia

PT Sumisho Global Logistics Indonesia is a company engaged in field of logistic services which having international standards, environmentally sound, and customers satisfaction oriented.

As an integrated global logistics service provider, the company covers international forwarding, warehousing, transportation, wholesales trading, customs clearance, delivery, and distribution center operations in Indonesia, where logistics services are dramatically increasing. Since its establishment in 1994, the company has expanded and enhanced its distribution centers in response to Indonesia's strong growth.

PT Sumisho Global Logistics Indonesia transports products and parts manufactured in industrial parks and other locations in Jakarta. As an integrated global logistics service provider covering logistics center operations to customs clearance for import and export, it plays a crucial role in Indonesia's transportation industry that has been traditionally dominated by individual business owners. Particularly after the recovery from the Lehman failure, the company has been receiving a great number of inquiries due to its readiness as a general logistics company.

The company is carrying out the "milk run" distribution operation for auto manufacturers while responding flexibly to daily traffic jams. Milk run is a "round trip" logistics system that facilitates both collection and distribution. PT Sumisho Global Logistics Indonesia continuously monitors its trucks, which are equipped with a global positioning system (GPS), by using location management monitors, as they pick up parts from suppliers and deliver them to auto manufacturers around the clock. This system allows the company to deliver parts just in time. Auto manufacturers need tens of thousands of parts to make even one vehicle, but many of them carry stocks for only several-hours’ worth of auto production. Therefore, the milk run delivery system plays the role of the unsung hero who works behind the scenes to support the increasing car demands in Indonesia.

Official website:


text:
Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Summer makeup guidelines are extremely valuable in summertime. Summer makeup tips assist ladies use their makeup more simply and seem to be clean. Summer makeup tips guide females to look plain yet wonderful.

Summer makeup guidelines assist you look clean and healthy during the hot climate. It is the wish of every lady to appear wonderful still when she goes in the extreme warm. Girls want their skin to shine and their makeup to be great even in sizzling warm. Therefore, summer makeup guidelines are a point to get over the problems of makeup in summertime.

No girl would want her makeup to liquefy and mascara to propagate and so it will be excellent for her to change her summer way of life. Her aim should not to be to put layers of makeup in the hot climate fairly she should reduce it up and go for less heavy shades.

Makeup Tips for Summer

Summer makeup tips for girls
It is recommended for ladies to lock their skin from the heat by using sun screens more frequently. Sun screen with SPF factor 15 defends the skin from spots and lines due to warm. The sun screen should be used on face prior to implementing foundation. It sets up a base which keeps the skin clean.

Secondly, summer makeup style should be unusual from winter seasons. Girls should reduce their makeup in summertime. Lighter eye shades should be used. For clean and less heavy look, use colored lotion and a damp sponge or cloth to get an even look. Concealer should be used near the eyes for more radiance. Very significantly, light mascara should be used so that it does not smear due to warm.

Summer makeup tips recommend waterproof makeup
Women love to put on makeup whether it is cold or hot. Therefore, it will be excellent if they use waterproof makeup to look wonderful sooner than terrifying in the extreme warm. Waterproof makeup does not smear the shades even if they are wet. Consequently, a clean look can be carried out by water proof makeup.

Summer makeup tips recommend bronzing powder
Bronzing powder is extremely helpful to make your skin radiant. It is superlative to implement bronzing powder in hot climate to keep skin clean and not greasy. One must be belief that which bronzer color to implement. They are on hand for all healthy skin care shades and wouldn't perform you feel odd. The color is available for all kinds of skin.

Popular Posts


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Stuff CTY Says

From CTY Skidmore session 2 2012. All credit goes to the RA’s that made this.
Stuff CTY Says

12 Replies to “Stuff CTY Says”

  1. You forgot:
    RA: “LIGHTS OUT!!!”
    KIDS: “Can we go to the bookstore?”

    Haha it was a very funny vid(: I miss CTY

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


text:
Saturday, July 31, 2010

California state of mind

My luggage - which went missing - has been found! The sun broke through! UCSD between terms is an oasis of calm - and every book is on the shelf at Geisel! A gem from Elie Wiesel (Messengers of God, 215):

There were those who claimed that Job did exist but that his sufferings are sheer literary inventions. Then there were those who declared that while Job never existed, he undeniably did suffer.

So even Job's enjoying a (perhaps unhealthy) change of air. And San Diego's own North County Repertory Theatre did a brilliant production of the musical "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." A hoot!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Summer bummer

This national weather map, from today's San Diego Union-Tribune, isn't detailed enough to tell you what's going on here. If you could zoom in on the southwesternmost corner of the country, you'd find green like the north of Canada! I kid you not: the San Diego phenomenon called "June Gloom" - cloudbanks squatting on the coast, blocking the sun and keeping temperatures low - has extended all summer this year. Someone coined the term "Summer Bummer" for it. For me, coming from New York's hottest month on record, it's quite a shock. I think you could plot New York City's temperatures of the last month and they'd never intersect San Diego's. NY's nighttime lows were higher than SD's daily highs!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Following the sunset westward

looping out beyond the Verrazano Narrows
one of many majestic anvil thunderheads over New Mexicomulti-layered cloudscapes over Arizonaand finally approaching Jupiter, er, California

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Lacks standards

This is a picture of HeLa cells (source), which, cultured in their gajillions over sixty years, have been responsible for countless scientific breakthroughs (starting with the polio vaccine) and many of the techniques used in biological research today. Wired mapped it out thus:
The scale of the phenomenon is mind-boggling. The original sample taken in 1951 was about the size of a dime, but if one could bring together all the cells which have since been grown from it, they'd weigh more than a hundred Empire State Buildings. Hundreds of cures and billions of dollars in pharmaceutical products have been made possible.

HeLa cells are the subject of a fascinating new book by Rebecca Skloot, the fruit of a decade's research into the source of HeLa - a woman named Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951 at thirty-one. Turns out she did not give permission for the sample from her tumor to be taken, and, until recently, her descendants didn't know, and have never benefited in any way from what her cells effected. Until recently, few researchers thought about the HeLa cells' having a source, let alone who it was.

Skloot tracks down Lacks' family, who challenged everything [she] thought she knew about faith, science, journalism, and race (7). For Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were able to reproduce like no others (others soon die, but HeLa is "immortal"), was African American, child of a poor tobacco-farming family of ex-slaves in rural Virginia. The story is full of pathos, and bitter ironies. The central one: She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty, one relation says. If our mother so important to science, why can't we get health insurance? (168)

Skloot uses the story of her attempt to learn who Lacks was as a way to introduce readers to issues in bioethics - are our cells our own, what is informed consent (a term first used in 1957), who's entitled to make money off tissues, etc. - and to the horrifying history of African Americans' experience with medicine in the US. Long excluded from coverage in segregated and underfunded facilities on the one hand, they were on the other hand used - without notification - for medical research, of which the Tuskegee story is only the best-known case. One of Lacks' daughters, an epileptic, ends up at a "Hospital for the Negro Insane" called Crownsville, where

scientists often conducted research on patients ... without their consent, including one study entitled "Pneumoencephalographic and skull X-ray studies in 100 epileptics." Pneumoencephalography was a technique developed in 1919 for taking images of the brain, which floats in a sea of fluid. The fluid protects the brain from damage, but makes it very difficult to X-ray, since images taken through fluid are cloudy. Pneumoencephalography involved drilling holes into the skulls of research subjects, draining the fluid surrounding their brains, and pumping air or helium into the skull in place of the fluid to allow crisp X-rays. The side effects - crippling headaches, dizziness, seizures, vomiting - lasted until the body naturally refilled the skull with spinal fluid, which usually took two or three months. (275-6)

The practice was discontinued only in the 1970s. How could...? I can't find words.

The Lacks' family story is full of tragedy and horror, but we are given to understand it isn't exceptional. Exceptional is only that Henrietta's cancer (the cells from her body which weren't cancerous lasted no longer than other people's) made HeLa possible, and through it incredible scientific progress. So what do we do with that? Part of what makes the book so gripping is that it seems there should be something we can do with it, but there isn't. The Lacks' suffering - the suffering of inherited poverty, institutionalized racism and the consequent dysfunctions of health and family - isn't redeemed by her death and its immortal product.

In the place of resolution one is left with a number of opaque, surd facts. Henrietta's full but difficult life, cut short by illness. The unprecedented and category-defying spread of "her" cells. (Someone suggested that, as the cells multiply and change, HeLa is no longer human but a new species, 216.) The fact that it was not her healthy but her cancerous cells which achieved "immortality." All of our indebtedness to the research the HeLa cells have made possible. (Not to mention our indebtedness to research results wrung from the suffering of vulnerable people to this day.) The irrelevance of all this to the life chances of her family, poor blacks in America...

It's profoundly unsettling, as I suppose all of medicine (and all of ethics) ultimately should be: individual fates and destinies are unassimilable to the "larger" issues, methods and breakthroughs. From the question "is HeLa a form of human life?" we are brought to broader as well as more practical questions of what a human life is, and what conduces to - or hinders - its fragile flourishing.

Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (NY: Crown, 2010)

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Making art of hot air

A soap bubble artist at work in Washington Square Park today.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Job in the family tree

Behold Job's place in Peter of Poitiers' 13th century genealogy of Christ
(French 13th century, now resident here) - this is about a tenth of the whole genealogy. To confirm, that's Job, dangling in a generation-defying way into the far upper left of the second frame (under the name Job in my caption), son of a Hus, in turn son of Abraham's brother Nahor. This is the version of Job's genealogy which makes him part of the family of Israel. More earlier interpreters thought him identical with Jobab, a grandson of Esau, and so a gentile. (The Septuagint split the difference: a descendant of Esau, Job was linked to Abraham through his mother.) Even in Peter of Poitiers, he's a genealogical cul-de-sac.

One of my favorite things in the print version of the Times is this way of presenting temperature forecasts for the coming days. I suppose I understand why it's not considered worth showing in the eternal present of the online version - in real time, it's a matter of indifference what the record or even average temperatures for that day are, not to mention the performance of past days. (Unless your way of living in time is all about projecting pasts into futures... or, less ambitiously and authentically, futures into pasts.) But you've got to admit, it is a great way of presenting a lot of information economically, and even elegantly.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Nature one-ups art in the National Cathedral. (The prisms were the beveled edges of the frame of a clerestory window high above the choir stalls, not the prisms at the center of the western rose window.) But it was good to escape the 99 degree (a record!) temps outside and enjoy the light refracted this way! The view from the seventh floor of one of the cathedral spires toward baking DC:

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Weekend in Washington! (Monet's luminous "The Stroll" at the National Gallery of Art alone vaut le voyage. Seen from across the room Madame Monet is as diaphanously radiant as the cloud. And her son creates depth and traverses it.)

Friday, July 23, 2010

Another secular saint

This time it's Galileo, in whose museum in Florence remains of a finger, a thumb and a tooth are displayed like relics. They were, indeed, found in a reliquary by a collector named Alberto Bruschi. But the translation of relics is always a storied affair:

Mr. Bruschi credits providence with the find. “More than by chance, things are also helped along a bit by the souls of the dead,” he said in a telephone interview.

That's providence? Oh well, you don't expect religious precision from an article (and a paper) which manages to assert that the Vatican still hasn't fully accepted heliocentrism!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Wahlverwandschaft / Elective affinity

If you google my surname persistently, you will come upon this lovely lady, Francine L. A singer and performer in the teens and twenties, she was also in a few silent films. (One, "Max wants a divorce," is on youtube with French title and German subtitles.) The thing is... it was a stage name! (Her father's name was J. Louis La Remée.) Through her mother she was a member of a great family in the Yiddish theater, the Adlers (Stella Adler was her cousin). I can't claim to have a star of the silent screen as a distant relation (or the Yiddish theater, which would be cool too), but at least I can say that a century ago - her debut was in 1910 - there was something in our family name which had an affinity with show business.
I've actually known about her for a while. A friend who collects sheet music from the early 20th century gave me the score at left a few years ago - it's even autographed! I'm not sure what a half-and-half is, but I'm happy to claim Francine Adler La Remée as a half-and-half relation!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The jungle takes over

Remember that garden I cultivated two years ago? I can still see it from our fourth floor perch. In a year and a half of near total neglect - I've seen people down there once, total - it's been nearly reclaimed by creepers and vines. Pity. But kind of thrilling, too, in a sublime sort of way.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A saint for secularism!

Hagiography, indeed martyrology, lives! "Agora," the Spanish/Portuguese historical drama directed by Chilean director Alejandro Amenábar, is about the 4th century philosopher Hypatia, who stood up for scepticism, science - we see her nearly scoop Kepler (!) - and liberal tolerance in the wrong place at the wrong time. No, the pathos is that it would have been the right place at the right time - sophisticated, cosmopolitan pagan Alexandria - were it not for the rise of intolerant Christianity. If only everyone had porcelain skin and a toney British accent and knew the axioms of Euclid by heart. Swarthy black-clad middle eastern-looking fanatics (like Cyril of Alexandria and the SA-like Parabolani) outwit Roman-looking romantics and German-looking bishops, but it is the virginal Hypatia - the film's only woman - who must die, and the (already devastated) Great Library of Alexandria with her. It's historically problematic, and as troubling in its racial politics - noble white liberals threatened by dark Taliban-like religious rabble? Puleeze! Did Oriana Fallacci write your screenplay? But it's worth seeing. It's beautiful - a whole world has been lovingly recreated. And it's quirky - from time to time the camera pans up into the sky, sometimes far out into space, for no very clear reason. (The starry-heavensy opening, including the music, evoke the start of "Battlestar Galactica.") And it's always good to learn about other religions and their hagiographies.

Monday, July 19, 2010

New view

From the third floor of the Time Warner Center...

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Mathematical reality

Was lucky enough yesterday to see an amazing play, one of the best in years, London's Complicite theater and Simon McBurney's "A Disappearing Number," part of the Lincoln Center Festival. Complicité is known for state of the art stagecraft, and it was a stunning show - great acting, amazing stage effects, multi-media, several plots (and time periods) moving simultaneously in the space of the stage. It was also a beautiful and profound story, or stories. What's it about? Mathematics, mathematicians, human beings: its two main plots follow early 20th century Indian genius Ramanajun and a woman who teaches college mathematics today, raising questions of love and belonging, loss and exile, partition, convergence and - the disappearing number - infinity.

One of its subjects is the beauty of mathematics, which it conveys in a manner which reminded me of Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" (one of the very best plays I've ever seen) in the way it let the magic of the stage enact mathematical processes, lending each a new vibrancy and beauty. And beauty is truth here. Says an actor early in "A Disappearing Number":

ANINDA: (In an Indian accent.) I'm Aninda, that is Al and this is Ruth. (Pause. His accent changes.) Actually, that's a lie. I'm an actor playing Aninda, he's an actor playing Al and she's an actress playing Ruth. But the mathematics is real.
Complicite, A Disappearing Number (London: Oberon, 2008), 23

The play's other subject might be stated thus: is our reality any greater, in relation to mathematics, than that of actors on a stage? In the sense in which mathematics is reality, truth, beauty, are we real at all? Perhaps the way to true reality is to feel the force of the question.

It gets - dare I say it - pretty religious, the religion of the Upanishads. (If we do Religion & Theater again, maybe we can include this!)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Taking the sacrament

Characteristically brilliant cartoon by Andy Dietsche in the Episcopal New Yorker. Particularly inspired:

7:15 Rite I Eucharist (Children Most Definitely By God Not Welcome)
8:00 Rite I Eucharist (Very Well-Behaved Children Grudgingly Tolerated)
9:00 Children's Regular Prayer Service (Medium-Level Chaos)

10:30 "U-2charist" or Whatever (With the Curate as "Bono" Impersonator)
1:15 Cranky Rite II Hypoallergenic Eucharist (No Incense by Order of Choir!)
3:00 Praise Service (Medium Restrained: Spirited But No Arm Raising)
10:45 Taizé-ish Service
11:30 Compline (With Cookies and Warm Milk Afterwards)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Get this!

Can you believe that typological interpreta- tion of Job is alive? These guys can hardly believe it, but they're part of it - two of Job's friends in the Old Testament tableau vivant to the mockery of Jesus in this year's Oberammergau Passion Play. The interleaving of OT scenes is a traditional part of Overammergau, but I believe the inclusion of Job is new to this staging. There's nothing new in thinking of Job when contemplating the mockery of Christ, but traditionally it's Mrs. Job (sometimes with satanic help), not the friends, doing the mocking!
O. Huber & C. Stückl, Passion Play 2010 Oberammergau (NY: Prestel, 2010), 64-65

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Premature Fall

The heat wave-stricken trees today. Compare Monday and last week.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sint Job

Praised be the Web for its treasures! Praised be for the intercession of flickr, through which I found an altarpiece to Saint Job featured in none of the histories of Christian art I've been scouring for Job-related art. Dating from 1530, it is in a church in Schoonbroek (Belgium). A Leo Wens, one of the church's deacons, has explicated each scene on their website (praised be also Google Translate for its intercession). Even better, he brings out the
liturgical life of the altar over the centuries by reproducing a number of prayers and litanies of St. Job! Here are two, one presumably 18th (or perhaps 17th) century, the second dated 1851. And he reports that the Job statue on top was festively processed through town until 1991. Through all of this you really get a sense of the life of religious art!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Burnt by the sun

When I said last week that the trees outside my window were wilting in the heat, you probably thought I was exaggerating. I did. If only! Compare today's view with four days ago; you won't believe your eyes.

Identity in difference

Can't resist inflicting yet more Job art on you (partly, I have to admit, because I can't use all these wonderful things I'm finding in a book that's mainly about the text, the book of Job, and not just the figure of Job in various biblical and less-than-biblical traditions), here the 1360 Kreuzaltar in the Backsteingotik (brick gothic) abbey of Bad Doberan, on the Baltic Sea. A gothic marvel Ruskin would appreciate: while perfectly balanced as a whole, nothing in it is ever repeated - every rondel a shape all its own, identity in difference. Job appears on the right wing of this (double-sided) altar with scenes of the Passion, and it is hard to find a clearer illustration of the identification of Job as a type of Christ. The man on the dungheap, scourged by his wife and a demon, has the very same face as the man to whom thugs are attaching a crown of thorns.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

da Fredi

Job is brought together with Adam and Eve, Abraham and Lot and Joseph's dream by Bartolo da Fredi in his 1367 frescoes for the Collegiata church in San Gimignano - the whole bottom tier is Job's.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

I'm a little reluctant to admit this, but I've become quite the fan of Google Books. Not only can you there find the 1869 account of a German Orientalist's visit to the Monastery of Job in Hauran, Syria (in a book not owned by the libraries I use), and there learn of the small long round stones and slag, which tradition declares to be the worms that fell to the ground out of Job's sores, petrified. But you can find a current book (2008) on the Geology of Iraq which describes a kind of stone known as Zor Hauran Formation, which, in its youngest form, bears the fossilized tracks of marine worms. Trippy! However I have yet to find geological confirmation of my favorite factoid of the ancient cult of St. Job: the spring, described in a fragment credibly attributed to the Iberian pilgrim Egeria who visited the tomb of Job at Carneas in Hauran around 400 CE, whose color changes four times a year; it has first a pus-like color, then the color of blood, then that of bile, and finally it becomes crystal clear.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Bible nest

Visited a place today which has 45,000 Bibles, in over 2500 languages. This is one of the newest, a translation of the (Catholic) Bible into Bukusu, a Kenyan language, published 2010! Cool! I was as intrigued by the fact that this (from British illustrator Horace Knowles) was the only image to Ayubu/Job. 9:26 is a most unusual passage to emphasize - though the image also calls to mind God's care for birds of prey in 39.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Heat wave

Have you heard about our record temps? They come on top of a largely rainless June, and are taking their toll on plants, like the trees in the courtyard outside my office window... I've never seen a tree wilt before.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Homeless ambulances lined up beside bankrupt St. Vincent's Hospital.

Job in the company of saints!

In Venice there's a church dedicated to Saint Job. Here's the altarpiece, painted by Giovanni Bellini in 1487. Some of the same characters turn up in his mysterious "Allegoria Sacra," too:

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Had a fascinating chat today with someone who was here before there was a Lang college - a student at the Seminar College onto which ELC was grafted. A rather different place - tiny, truly interdisciplinary, quite ideological but clearly really intellectual - and not too happy to be turned into something else. I knew a bit about it before (it had been a four-year college since 1977), but hearing someone - not least someone who's my near contemporary - describe his time there makes it real in a whole new way. This Village Voice ad shows the lay of the land in 1978.
As a bonus for my efforts to recall a prehistory which has fallen out of the official stories, he gave me an account of the prehistory of The New School as a whole which I hadn't heard before: Columbia professors teaching adults somewhere on the Upper West Side until WW1 led some of them to break with Columbia and move downtown and start The New School. Before WW1? Didn't it all start because of the WW1-related rupture of Beard and Robinson with Columbia? But it can't have been that simple. There must have been plans afoot before that. Memory of that might still have been available in 1981...


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/rss+xml

text: RSS Feed FogBugz RSS Feed en-us Copyright 2000-2004 Fog Creek Software Log On Click here to log on to your FogBugz account to access the RSS feed. Alternatively, you can log into FogBugz, visit the original page, and get a new copy of the feed's URL which will include an authentication token that will work even if your feed reader does not support cookies.]]> Log On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 21:58:50 GMT


text:
Beginner's Guide

Illustrated Manual

Quick start

Third-Party Applications

Tips, Tricks & Secrets

Skins (134)

Visuals (113)

Native Input Plug-ins (28)

Winamp Input Plug-ins (38)

DSP Plug-ins (10)

Output Plug-ins (4)

Archive Reader (15)

Tag Editing Plugins (6)

External Encoders (6)

Other Add-ons (14)

XMPlay Archive (66)

Extra Tools
by Aramir
posted on 2003-01-02

Leave a comment

Please use English when writing comments, and help keep the comments clean by using the forum if you have any questions.

What others say

#12 - Slava rated this file 5 stars on 2016-04-15, 09:26:14
Great skin! I tried many skins and stopped at this one. It's awesome!

#11 - Eman rated this file 2 stars on 2015-06-15, 10:54:20
Separation on the left part looks ugly to me...

#10 - Chinese Sausage rated this file 4 stars on 2009-12-24, 05:46:57
Simple but stable skin and very fast loading. Fonts need to be a bit bigger.

#9 - MARs rated this file 5 stars on 2008-06-23, 20:31:24
I've downloaded allot of skins, every time I find myself drifting back to this one, it's almost perfect. The mini mode is wonderful, fits perfectly on at the top if my screen. The biggest thing I would have liked would have been a seek bar in the minimode and taller seek bars in the main mode, allot of times I think I'm grabbing the seek bar an I'm grabbing just above it. Mostly because the button is taller than the actuall seek bar.

#8 - This is what the default skin should look like rated this file 5 stars on 2007-07-28, 21:40:56
I've always liked the (new) default skin interface of XMPlay. The only complain I have is it's ugliness. :) Flatline fixes that perfectly!

One wish: Would you please release the source, or make some color variations available?

Thank you!

#7 - Warner rated this file 4 stars on 2006-12-03, 15:21:40
I always liked the skin because of it's native gui. Now it looks a bit outdated but still cool.

#6 - Juster rated this file 5 stars on 2006-08-22, 21:20:22
Great skin, fits my desktom so well. Probably the best skin for XMPlay. Thats how an interface should be done. Thanks Aramir.

#5 - jexfour rated this file 5 stars on 2006-08-16, 17:53:32
simple, nice, clean, etc...

#4 - BoggyB rated this file 4 stars on 2006-07-20, 12:42:15
Simple and functional. Also happens to be the same height in mini-mode as the default windows titlebar height, which means you can easily leave it in the top-right corner without hiding any windows. The track name could be a bit wider in minimode though, most of the titles I have are longer than the space there.

#3 - dex rated this file 5 stars on 2006-07-20, 12:04:53
small, simple, visible, therefore wonderful
only thing i'd like to see is a darker version, but i do use it as such since ages
thanx aramir

#2 - ninja rated this file 5 stars on 2006-07-07, 10:42:12
my number one for 3 years...

#1 - ripieces rated this file 5 stars on 2006-06-01, 20:59:57
+ clear and good visble interface
+ very good design


text:
Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
70	STR	60	23-	Lift 409.6 tons; 14d6 HTH Damage [7]
18	DEX	24	13-	OCV:  6/DCV:  6
70	CON	120	23-
25	BODY	30	14-
10	INT	0	11-	PER Roll 11-
20	EGO	20	13-	ECV:  7
35	PRE	25	16-	PRE Attack:  7d6
8	COM	-1	11-

40	PD	26		Total:  40 PD (30 rPD)
40	ED	26		Total:  40 ED (30 rED)
4	SPD	12		Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
30	REC	4
150	END	5
150	STUN	55		Total Characteristics Cost:  408

Movement:	Running:	12"/24"
		Leaping:	44"/88"
		Swimming:	2"/4"

Cost	Powers & Skills
	Martial Arts:  Brick Tricks Martial Art
	Maneuver	OCV	DCV	Notes
4	Bearhug I	+0	+0	20d6 Crush, Must Follow Grab
5	Bearhug II	-2	+0	Grab Two Limbs, 2d6 NND
4	Big Push	+0	+0	95 STR to Shove
4	Break Free	+0	+0	95 STR vs. Grabs
4	Deadly Smash	-2	+0	HKA 2d6
5	Deadly Throw	-2	+0	HKA 2d6 , Target Falls
5	Fist-Grab	+1	+1	Grab One Limb, Block
3	Grab		-1	-1	Grab Two Limbs, 90 STR for holding on
5	Legbreaker	-1	-2	Grab One Limb; HKA 2d6 , Disable
4	Punch		+2	+0	18d6 Strike
4	Slam		-1	-1	STR +2d6 Strike; Grab Two Limbs; Target Falls
3	Tackle		+0	-1	16d6 +v/5 Strike; You Fall, Target Falls; FMove
4	Toughness	+2	+2	Block, Abort
3	Wrestler's Throw
			+2	+1	16d6 Strike; You Fall, Target Falls
8	+2 HTH Damage Classes (already added in)

167	Brick Tricks:  Variable Power Pool, 100 base + 50 control cost, Powers Can Be Changed As A
	Zero-Phase Action (+1); Active Point Limit of 70pts (-½)
50	Ok, Now The Gloves Are Off:  Aid  STR 5d6, Can Add Maximum Of 90 Points, Delayed Return Rate
	(5 Points per Minute; +¼); Self Only (-½), Requires Ego Roll or Enraged (-½)
	Notes:  Fixit can only access his Adrenaline via strength of will or his sheer rage. If he's enraged
	he can access it at will, otherwise he requires an EGO roll each use.
	Gamma Physiology
15	1)  Bruce Banner:  Multiform (50 Character Points in the most expensive form) (Instant Change)
6	2)  Huge:  Knockback Resistance -3"
12	3)  Freight Train:  Running +6" (12" total), END 1
11	4)  Stentorian Voice:  Hearing Group Images 1" radius, +6 to PER Rolls; Set Effect (only to amplify
	character's voice; -1), END 2
4	5)  Reach:  Stretching 1", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Always Direct (-¼), No Noncombat
	Stretching (-¼), No Velocity Damage (-¼)
57	1)  Doesn't Hurt:  Damage Resistance (30 PD/30 ED), Hardened (+¼) plus Hardened (+¼) applied to PD
	plus Hardened (+¼) applied to ED
30	2)  Shrugs Off Damage:  Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%
30	3)  Shrugs Off Damage:  Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%
13	4)  Bracing:  Knockback Resistance -10"; Costs Endurance (-½), END 2
12	5)  Fractured Mind:  Mental Defense (26 points total)
6	6)  Pain Tolerance:  +10 Mental Defense (26 points total); Only To Resist Pain Attacks (-2) plus
	Power Defense (10 points); Only To Resist Pain Attacks (-2)
19	7)  Regenerative:  Healing 3 BODY, Can Heal Limbs, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Persistent (+½);
	Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Hour (-2 ¼), Self Only (-½)
23	8)  Resilient Healing:  Healing 2d6, any one Characteristic other than BODY, END, or STUN at a time (+¼),
	Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Self Only (-½)
31	9)  Gamma Powered Cockroach:  Life Support  (Eating: Character only has to eat once per week;
	Expanded Breathing: Water; Extended Breathing: 1 END per 20 Minutes; Immunity: All terrestrial
	diseases and biowarfare agents; Safe Environment: Zero Gravity; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in
	High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum;
	Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per week)
35	Mile-Long Leaping:  Multipower, 35-point reserve
3u	1)  Combat Hops:  Leaping +30" (44" forward, 22" upward) (Accurate), END 3
1u	2)  MegaLeaping:  Leaping 10", MegaScale (1" = 1 km; leap takes 1 Phase per km; +¼), END 1
	Enhanced Senses
5	1)  Astral Sight:  Detect Astral Projections 11- (Sight Group)
10	2)  Homing Sense:  Detect "Birthplace" 11- (Unusual Group), Range, Sense

6	The Boss:  Contact:  Crime Boss in Las Vegas (Contact has access to major institutions, Contact
	has significant Contacts of his own, Contact has useful Skills or resources, Good relationship
	with Contact) 11-
2	Made Man:  Fringe Benefit:  Gang/organized crime group member of prominence or importance
5	Well Paid Employee:  Money:  Well Off
6	Heavyweight Champ:  Reputation:  Baddest Man in Vegas (A large group) 14-, +2/+2d6
5	The Penthouse:  Bachelor Pad

3	Quicker Than He Appears:  Lightning Reflexes: +2 DEX to act first with All Actions

16	+2 with All Combat
30	+6 with Hand-to-Hand Combat
3	Bribery 16-
3	Bureaucratics 16-
3	Concealment 11-
3	Gambling 11-
3	Interrogation 16-
3	Navigation 11-
2	PS: Bodyguard/Enforcer 11-
3	Paramedic 11-
27	Power:  Brick Tricks 23-
3	Streetwise 16-
3	Survival 11-
3	Systems Operation 11-
3	TF:  Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles
3	Tactics 11-
3	Teamwork 13-
2	WF:  Small Arms, Clubs, Fist-Loads
3	Scholar
2	1)  KS: Gamma Powered Individuals 11-
2	2)  KS: The Las Vegas Underworld 11-
2	3)  KS: The Military World 12-
2	4)  KS: The Scientific World 11-
2	5)  KS: The Superhuman World 11-
3	Traveler
1	1)  AK: American Southwest 11-
1	2)  AK: New Mexico 11-
1	3)  CK: Las Vegas, Nevada 11-

Total Powers & Skill Cost:  767
Total Cost:  1173

600+	Disadvantages
5	Accidental Change:  GM Fiat 8- (Uncommon)
15	DNPC:  Plot-Driven Dependent (Default: Betty Ross-Banner) 11- (Occasionally) (Normal)
20	Distinctive Features:  Gray-Skinned side of beef in a pinstripe suit.  Not Concealable, Always
	Noticed and Causes Major Reaction, Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses
10	Enraged:  When Angered/Frustrated Uncommon, go 8-, recover 11-
15	Hunted:  Hulk's Rogues Gallery 8- (As Pow; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find;
	Harshly Punish)
5	Physical Limitation:  Large, up to twice human size (4m, or 2"; -2 DCV, +2 to PER Rolls to perceive)
	(Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Enjoys Combat, willing to throw down (Common; Moderate)
10	Psychological Limitation:  Fractured Psyche (Uncommon; Strong)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Overconfidence (Common; Strong)
15	Psychological Limitation:  Selfish and Hedonistic (Common, Strong)
10	Reputation:  Mob Enforcer, Frequently (11-)
10	Unluck: 2d6
433	Experience Points

Total Disadvantage Points:  1173
Joe Fixit (Hulk)

Background/History: From:

Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was born to Dr. Brian Banner and his wife Rebecca. Rebecca loved Bruce very much, but her drunken husband Brian was jealous of the attention she gave to their son. Brian also thought that Bruce wasn't human due to genetic modifications Brian had made to himself. One day Brian killed his wife and was placed in a mental institution. Bruce would grow up hiding all his pain and live with his aunt Mrs. Drake. Dr. Robert Bruce Banner grew up to be a brilliant scientist and started working for the U.S. Department of Defense, in charge of an experimental Gamma Bomb.

A teenager named Rick Jones took a dare from some friends to drive inside of an off-limits Military-run atomic testing range seconds before a powerful Gamma-ray Bomb was due to be detonated. The scientist/physicist Bruce Banner had selflessly endangered himself to save the life of a boy whom had wandered onto the grounds of a secret military bomb testing range just moments before the detonation of the top secret Gamma Bomb. Banner told his colleague, Igor Starsky (real name Igor Drenkov) to hold the test, but Igor was a Soviet agent and did no such thing. Hoping for Banner's death, and the end of his project, Igor allowed the test to continue. Dr. Banner then dashed to the teenager and sped with him towards a nearby trench. Frantically, Dr. Banner hurled Rick Jones into the crevice where the teenager was shielded from the mysterious, menacing Gamma Rays. But, at that very second, standing in the open, exposed and un-sheltered, the heroic Bruce Banner absorbed the full impact of the gamma explosion, even though the center of the blast was a good five miles away. His ear-piercing screams filled the desert air, as the scientist lost all sense of time and space. As a strange, awesome change took place in the atomic structure of his body. A short time later,

Dr. Banner regained consciousness at the base hospital, with Rick Jones standing by his side. Rick Jones swore never to leave Dr. Banner again. During the rescue, Banner's body was irradiated by the gamma blast which, when combined with his own unique genetics, led to the birth of the Incredible Hulk. As the sun set, the Geiger counter on a nearby table began to tick louder and louder until Bruce Banner had turned into the most dangerous living creature on earth.

Version: Joe Fixit. This is the "Gray" Hulk, the Joe Fixit version is the smallest and weakest (to begin with anyway) but he is smart, cunning, and capable in combat.

Personality/Motivation: Joe is a unique persona, like the Savage Hulk. You could say he personifies Banner's selfishness. Joe Fixit is morally ambiguous, cantankerous, greedy, horny, lazy, hedonistic, and rough edged. He could be said to be Banner's wish fulfillment run amok. He's been shown on occasion to have a (tightly reigned in) conscience. He detests most of the other personalities.

Quote: "This is not gonna be pretty."

Powers/Tactics: Joe Fixit is a weaker version of the hulk who compensates by being a superior fighter. Like the merged version, he has difficulty accessing the rage-induced strength. In addition he seems to have a much lower limit.

Campaign Use: A leg-breaker in Vegas. This version of the hulk is a great antagonist for lower powered heroes, he's capable of doing the right thing but he's just as capable of being an obstinate jerk who messes up anyone who gets in his way.

Appearance: Joe Fixit is a massive man with slate gray skin and black hair. He dresses in tailored suits when he can.

Joe Fixit's Hero Designer File

Return to Comic-Derived Character Adaptations


text:
By Michael Surbrook

David Lam was looking at the largest rat he'd ever seen. It was black and almost obscenely plump, with a naked pink tail and beady black eyes that darted about like the animal had something to hide.

At the moment, the rat was washing its face, its paws a blur as it rubbed nose and whiskers over and over. David stared at it, fascinated. He was sure there were rats over in Neo York, but he'd never thought they could get this big. He figured the rat would give the average cat trouble—which then made him wonder what the typical Zone cat looked like...

The thought of becoming breakfast for a large mean Zone cat made David shudder, sending the rat scurrying. David wanted to scurry himself, but he felt far too battered to do more than slowly crawl his way upright. His head hurt like hell, and the rest of him was a sea of aches and pains. And to think, a mere 24 hours ago he was enjoying breakfast in his Neo York apartment...

Now standing, if a bit unsteadily, David glanced around, taking stock of his surroundings. He was in the corner of a small room, the walls lined with small metal lockers, the floor tile, the ceiling smooth white plaster—now sagging and speckled with mildew. On a far wall the was the words "United States Post Offi.." the rest was obscured by the slow spread of rot.

Taking a step, David winced, and placed one hand to his head. There was a sore spot there, and his fingers came back speckled with flakes of dried blood. Just what he needed to see.

Walking was a chore, but a manageable one, and David managed to make it to what was once the lobby, or so he guessed. All the windows were gone, along with the doors, and the floor showed signs of where any furniture had been forcibly removed. There was also a thick litter of dried leaves, twigs, weeds, and what looked like bits of bone. Swallowing deeply, David decided it was time for him to get to Neo York and as far away from the Zone as possible. Which was—of course—the trick.

Standing in the bright morning sun, David blinked away spots. The former post office fronted onto a brick-paved plaza, which in better days might have been the center for neighborhood shopping and business. Now it was choked with weeds and scraggly trees. The stores and shop lining the plaza showed gaping holes where windows had once been and the rusted skeletons of several cars were scattered amid the brush.

For a long moment David simply stood, looking at the alien landscape before him. Undeniably, he was in the Zone. Back in the Neo York, the world he understood, the world was all brushed chrome, gleaming stainless steel, smooth glass, bright neon... not dirt and rust and mold and mildew and rats so flea bitten the parasites visibly hopped and jumped amid their host's fur.

He needed to get out of here.

But that was the crux of the problem. He really shouldn't have been here in the first place. He had no interest in the Zone, had never looked at it, thought about it, or paid much attention to it. It wasn't part of his life, much in the same way politics, Lace and Steel, and lower New Jersey wasn't part of his life.

His boss, however, had thought differently.

Up until last night, David had worked at SimTech, also known as Simulation Technologies, a software company specializing in computer models. He'd been a programmer, and had been more than happy to spend his time writing code, testing software, and running simulations. That is until Craig had informed him he was going to be going into the Zone to check out some new code. David protested that the Zone was no place for the likes of himself, but Craig had countered that the only other programmer SimTech had with the skill to properly evaluate the software in question was Michael Erica de Normandy, and if David was unsuited for a trip into the Zone, then there was no way a 100 pound albino woman who had trouble with bright lights was going. David, realizing his boss had a point, resigned himself to visiting what he was sure would be hell on Earth.

The trip had been, much to David's surprise, fairly uneventful. They had driven into the Zone in an armored truck, and the little David has seen had been dark and shadow. There hadn't been any blazing bonfires, leering bike gangers, corpse-littered streets, or chromed cyber-monsters just waiting for him to slip up. There had been, however, four dark-clad men with a truck of their own. They had come equipped with a variety of firearms and an armored case with an optical drive inside. David had hooked the drive up to his laptop and started putting the program through its paces while Craig and Brad talked price and payment.

Then the gunfire started.

David never saw who was doing the actual shooting. All he heard was the buzz of a high-volume automatic weapon and the wet sound of bodies being perforated by far too many bullets. The armored truck he'd come in seemed to be a primary target, and David quickly abandoned any thought of hiding in it after the windows were blown to powder. Instead, he'd ducked down and scurried into a side alley, while the one-sided battle raged behind, punctuated by the occasional scream and the dull whump of vehicles exploding.

He wasn't sure how far he'd run, or where he'd run to. All he knew was he'd crashed around for a bit and finally crawled into what had looked like a secure and quiet spot away from the shooting. Then, exhausted, he'd passed out.

So... here he was, alone in the Zone. He wasn't defenseless, he had still had the slivergun Craig had given him. In fact, the pistol was still in its shoulder rig, untouched. He even had an armorcloth long coat on, lined with ballistic panels. Now all he had to do was figure out where the checkpoint was, show the men on duty his SINcard, and he was home free. By instinct, his had went to his pocket, where he kept his ID cards. They were still there, much to David's relief, but...

David stared at the synthleather slipcase with a mix of horror and disbelief. Sometime last night a bullet had smacked into his armored jacket. It has left him unharmed, but it had manged to smash a perfect hole into his ID cards, leaving them bent and unreadable.

Still staring at the broken cards, David slowly slipped to the ground, his legs suddenly unable to support his weight. With no cards he couldn't cross the checkpoint, and if he couldn't cross the checkpoint he wasn't going home, and that meant...

He was trapped. Trapped in the Zero Zone.

Return to Kazei 5 PBEM Stories


text:
Friday, January 01, 2010

I don't believe in resolutions. They are planned disappointments and future resentments. I do believe in inventories. Listing all the good things (gratitude) and all the bad things (defects of character). I simply list them, acknowledge them, accept them, learn from them and move on. Here are some of the highlights that I am legally allowed to share. In no particular order:

On 3/23 it was 16 years since my last drink or drug. Everything good in my life is a result of this. Everything.

Knowing at the core of being that there is God and I am not it.

Before Katey and my kids, love was a need, now it's an action.

I am blessed to get paid a lot of money for something I'd do for free.

I probably am in the best shape I've ever been. Stronger now than when I was in my 20's. And I have all my hair.

I'm very lucky that I've found the right outlet for all the scary things in my head.

I don't really like people, so letting folks get truly close is a struggle for me. But the ones who do, I value dearly.

Success has afforded me the luxury of owning a lot of really cool shit. Beautiful home, nice car, lots of man toys.

OC ism
My obsessive compulsivity bleeds into all areas of my life. Perfectionism, need for control, my indulgent relationship with food, sex -- anything at all pleasurable. My default is always more, more, more, now, now, now. It's a daily struggle, from which, if I'm spiritually centered, I get a modicum of relief. My mind is a very exciting, hard to follow, ping-pong match.

All my mistakes are born of one cause - fear. Fear of losing what I have, fear of not getting what I want. At my core, I am a dissatisfied man. I was born hungry and pissed. It's taken a lot of work to get happy. Anger is my first reply to any challenge. It is my greatest defense and my greatest weakness. It manifests into sarcasm, moodiness, impatience, etc. The upside is that the anger rarely becomes rage these days. I can usually check myself before reacting, so the person who suffers the most is usually me.

Again, and offshoot of fear, but it deserves it's own category. Some of it is being an artist. We create not only for ourselves, but to express something to others. To communicate a vision. I wish I had the capacity to hang my work for public consumption and not care about the opinions that follow. But alas, I am not cut from that thick cloth. I take every criticism personally, from the most inane blog, to the New York Times, to Twitter remarks. I have no skin. As I am lying in a puddle of my own creative blood I am usually taken to the next defect --

Self Loathing
I am blessed. I have an amazing life, an amazing family an amazing career. And still there are times when I want to tie a fucking chain around my neck and dive off my roof.

On that note, I wish you all a happy and sane 2010. I thank you from the bottom of my big dark heart for all the love and support.

Peace. Please.

kimshum said...

The most honest - and meaningful - year in review I've seen. You, sir, continue to amaze.

Here's to a better 2010.

Paul said...

You’re one talented mother fucker. I love this blog. I teach a TV criticism course and you make the reading list a few times. Your show has a prominent role in my class next semester as well. Wishing you a great 2010.

Laura said...

I hope you never give in to the ugly! Along with all the other good things you mentioned, you're honest with yourself. That may be as important as anything else. Here's to telling great stories in 2010! Happy New Year to you and your family!

PaultheIrish said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
East Coast said...

had no idea you were a frind of bill w.'s congrats. I did 14 years and decided to go back off the wagon. lol

so far so good, but thats just me. Miss the show, and really sorry I missed the swag giveaway.
be well dude
support 81

chevyjr said...

U r a magnificent talent.Thank u for sharing your dramatic ideas !! oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR !!May many more appreciate u.

Shelby Light said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Chris said...

I can't remember why I started following you on Twitter. i don't watch SOA, I don't follow your wife if she even has a Twitter. And now I'm following your blog?

I totally appreciate you honesty in everything you write. That may be all there is to it.

Happy New Year~

PatD64 said...

Knowing at the core of being that there is God and I am not it"

Haha!!!! What a great line,Thanks for being so honest with us about who you are! Love ya buddy! Happy New Year to you and everyone from SOA!

Danielle said...

This whole blog is soooo close to myself and my day to day struggle. I'm not a blog poster or a blog reader for that matter. But I like millions of other people, am a huge fan of the SONS. And my interested in you as the creator lead me here. I think you are doing a phenomenal job with the show and I also strongly believe you, the show, or your wife haven't been given the credit you all deserve. I'm not sure this will reach you in a way that I hope it will. But thank you for this latest blog entry and I hope the year brings you, your family, and the SONS all the credit you deserve. I have faith that will happen.

Susan said...

Peace to you.
You had a great year, thanks for all your hard work on SOA. Much appreciated.
And a blessed 2010

tammi said...

wow found this on Twitter. Very well said. I share some of your Bad & Ugly. I will work on that. Happy New Year, Dark heart.

Iberostar said...

Whoa - great blog - my friend and I were talking today about the darkness that goes along with the creative gift - a touch is okay - too much and you're on the couch talking about your compulsions. You are right where you need to be. I visit your blog a lot. Here's to a great New Year for you and SOA.

WI_Debi said...

Happy New Year to you too.

I hope this doesn't piss you off...but you didn't say No and I'm basically an adolescent in an adult costume so I consider that permission granted..I mean seriously dude, it's 14 degrees here we deserve a party don't ya think??

We've decided to go ahead with the Golden Cheddar Sphere Awards, a fan based FUCK YOU to the nominating committee of the Golden Globes. All nominees will be SoA associated.
Categories so far:
Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Best Episode Season 2, Best director (I could use some help with names in this category),Character you love to hate (performer), Best death, Favorite Cameo...that's all I have so far.
There will be 2 other awards for fans:
Criteria yet to be determined
Gemma's Skateboard Award
Opie's Hat Award
SoA T-shirt design contest, winner to be determined by penny in a pickle jar vote, proceeds to be donated to a local charity cuz I'm only schlepping pennies once

The GC Awards will take place at: Tailgaters
4706 75th Street
Kenosha, WI 53142-3776
Sunday January 17
3:00 p.m. C.S.T.

Anyone wanting more information can join our Yahoogroup F_U_GG or contact me via Twitter.. I'll attempt to set up a facebook page for contact also.

I could use some volunteers to help out with vote counting, videography and cheddar sphere creation so feel free to spread the word far & wide.

So, barring any cease & desist orders from the left coast, I'll look forwad to seeing everyone on the 17th!

Happy New Year Everybody : D

Julie said...

I don't suppose you have a single brother/dad/uncle for me, do you? I think your review is honest and direct and reflects a damn good balance of family and work.

Congrats on where you are, where you have been, and where you are going.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jane said...

I spent New Year's Eve re-watching Season 1 SOA. Thanks for such a great show. May 2010 be a wonderful year for you and your family.

Anonymous said...

"You are only as sick as your secrets" Sounds like you've been through 12 steps, congrats on the sobriety, that is amazing, and you should always be grateful for that, amazing bro.

You are not alone in your feelings and sickness, there are many just like us. Fear is our enemy, keep facing the day to day struggle. Fake it until you make it. That's what I am trying to do.

Love you work.

still looking for a place to get my hands on a sample script to work a spec off...

Kingsley said...

Your complete honesty is beautiful... May God bless you in this new year.

Derek C. said...

I knew you must be a friend of Bill's from the jump when I heard the words"character defects"God I hate those two words.Not as much as I use to though.Going on two years myself and its been an uphill battle.SONS gave me something to look forward to every week for the past 23 months and I thank you for that.I think what pulled me in the direction of following your words was when I found out that you were the character "Otto" on the show.I remember saying "Man! That guy looks like he knows the part all too well" Like I could feel from your character that you've maybe been to a portion of the places that the person whom your portraying has been himself.Anyway here I am waiting for season two like its my next "high" and reading everything you've put out on the internet.God bless you and your family and thanks a million times for the best, most intense feelings I've ever felt while sitting in front of a T.V.Love any kind of healthy,sober rush!

The Mulkster said...

Well, at least you said, "Please?" Every asshole can muster up a shred of politeness every once in a while. So, if I may, I would like to demonstrate my capacity for politeness as well and say, "Thank you." If it’s any consolation, I, myself, have had the glorious deed of taking personal inventory and the results are never pretty. Through all of the internal bloody messes I have to constantly tidy up for myself, there is one theme that always seems to give me solace. Maintaining my ability to work and create. For each man, I am sure that it's different. But for me, having the privilege to gather all of my life's experience in this sick and wrong head of mine and actually create something externally is liberating! In a fucked-up way, it gives me hope to sit here and read these words of yours. The notion of another poor bastard having a similar constitution as myself is fine and dandy, but to know that the same tortured soul happens to be at the top of his class is enlightening! I guess misery loves company. Nonetheless, Thank You for not letting the demons conquer and thank you for giving the demons a venue to entertain the rest of us miserable pukes who are out there fighting the good fight right alongside you! Keep coming back. We need you out here. Happy New Year, Sutter!

Indianacat said...

Happy Mew Year from Indianacat!

Fascinating how we creative souls are so prone to the same good, bad and ugly things.

I'm truly blessed in these times to have a home over the head, a job, a husband I adore (and who puts up with my obsessions), good health (off smoking for 20 years plus), and my sanity...not necessarily in that order.

The ugly? Self loathing. Still working on that myself and that's half a decade of work right there. It is truly a battle royal won in not letting the fucktards in life get you down.

The bad? Anger and oversensitivy go hand in hand, my friend. That is my #1 vice. When you have Scot and Irish background, the temper tends to be hair trigger.

As far as critics go, Johnny Hart once said it real well about 'em. What's a snake's eye view of things? A Critic.

Critism when constructive and helpful can be a good thing. Criticsm just to be a fucktard (that's my new colorful metaphor of the year) is destructive. When faced with the second, I often want to shoot first, ask questions later. But remember that doing so puts me at their level, and while my opinion of self might be grandiose, I KNOW am higher up the evolutionary scale than them.

You've had a great year this year. Awards? Screw 'em. They take up space. The best award is the egoboo you get from the people who watch, and read, and live.

Enjoy the ride. May it be long and prosperous. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, the fans, and for posting and reading our comments!

WI_Debi said...

Facebook page is up.
Wi-Debi Kenosha
for info on The Golden Cheddar Sphere Awards/ F_U_GG's

Ingeborg said...

I'm glad you decided to make SOA, because I love love love it. And I can't wait to get the first season on dvd (because unlike other people I don't like downloding films and series). I'll get it sometime in Febuary, depening if keep my pre-ordering on play, or if I cancel it and buy it a store.

Anyway: I wish you and your family a happy (and sane) new year too.

Mary said...

Happy New Year!!! I love your blog, you are so talented, your honesty makes you a beautiful and interesting man. Katey is a lucky woman to have you. I think everyone at one time or another wants to dive off their roof!

Anonymous said...

Querido Kurt,

Feliz Año desde España.

And keep kicking asses with your show!!!
Awesome blog, by the way.

Pointman said...

Without those conquered and controlled vices to test us- life would be pretty fucking boring!
You are an example of channeling everything that motivates you, haunts you, into a creative force.
Have a great 2010 and beyond~

Ride forever- Work Whenever!

tonilost said...

All I can say is thanks be that you met Katey. Your honesty is cringeworthy to me because I'm quite like you in my faults. Never enough used to be my motto in all things. It turned out being a vain woman was a good thing, the excesses I indulged in werent making me look younger, lol. The control issues were really the hardest to change and I give you props for even recognizing you have these problems. Happy New Year and Buona Fortuna!

Connie said...

Abraham Lincoln once said "A man with no vices is a man with no virtue". Nobody is perfect and we all have our own demons, just most of us hide them. You are lucky enough to channel them into some of the best television anyone has seen in a long while.

I used to have a Calvin and Hobbes sticker on my bulletin board at work that said " I HATE PEOPLE". There is nothing wrong with that. I would give the shirt off my back if you needn't it, just so long as you said thanks and left me alone.

We are the types that don't bother anyone and would like the same courtesy extended to us.

Nobody's perfect. God Bless you, Katie and your family. Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all. This is the only blog I follow because you are so honest and real. Thanks and please shoot some of Season 3 in NYC !!!

connor said...

Some musical considerations for season three.Too Slim & the Taildraggers>"Free Your Mind"; Joanne Shaw Taylor>"White Sugar"; Shane Dwight>"Plays the Blues.

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting for me to read the post. Thank you for it. I like such themes and everything connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more soon.

The Crazy Horse Flame Shop said...

Hello Kurt, A reader on my blog left a comment that I thought you might find interesting. I was taking poll on SOA. He asked a question about getting SOA DVDs in Canada. Here it is:

"I am an edumacated western Canadian who loves to ride and is stuck in the snow. I have ridden motorcycles since about 10 and live to ride, ski, fish and drink hard. My two bikes are currently a duli purpose given to me by my father and a 76 KZ 900 LTD. Both are rat bikes not by choice but competing interests of ambition, time and money. My first gang was on bicycles around 6 years of age. Presently I am a lone wolf but that is okay as it provides freedom on the pavement and in the mountains. Although i have never belonged to an outlaw biker gang, I can't get enough of the Son's of Anarchy on the internet, it realy hits a cord with those that understand the freedom of riding. I am currently trying to order up the DVD for myself and my brother in law, does anyone know a place where that is possible?"

Marc said...

Kurt...absolutely LOVE SOA, have been recommending it to all my friends here. Thought the Zobelle and Weston characters were solid, sinister and believable. Rollins was understated and simmering....am also dying to see Darby resurface (if he is indeed alive). The building tension between Hunnam and Perlman towards the end was superb. Anyway am here to make a point...it's a problem Hollywood and the world has had in general for a long time...yep Irish and more specifically Northern Irish accents. I am sorry to say the "True IRA" characters have some of the worst approximations of the accent that I have ever heard. I know it must be difficult to find actors with a real N.Irish accent...but I have a few things to beg of you...please PLEASE find Northern Irish actors to play Northern Irish characters. There are only a few English actors that I have seen that can do it correctly even...Secondly...the end of Season 2 suggests that Jax might go to Belfast or Ireland to reclaim his son. I beg of you, don't do it...unless you actually plan to shoot on location in Belfast with decent local actors (alot of them over here are theatre divas who overact!). Cinema and television is littered with poorly conceived attempts to address the "situation" in Northern Ireland. SOA works best in Northern CALI. Beyond these minor issues, it is simply the best show on television. I know you are a very busy man, but if you wanted to discuss any of the above is there any way I could get an email or address for you or pass you mine. Obviously do not want to post mine here.(I am not soliciting for work etc. not involved in the film/tv biz at all) Thanks for your time and hope this post gets approved.

Kat Bogart said...

I think one thing that is a constant between Sons of Anarchy and you - is honesty. Sometimes we barely look at ourselves in an honest light. We don't want to point out our faults or weaknesses. I see both happen in Sons of Anarchy and reading your blog. I find it refreshing. We are human. We make mistakes and we can learn from them. But first we have to be honest with ourselves in order to move forward.

Thanks for your blog. I hope 2010 gives you happiness, joy and satisfaction in all that you do.

Allston said...

Honesty is refreshing; it also hurts when it's so close to home. I'm sad(glad) that my own shit is on a similar plane as others (you, however, are far more eloquent in your recitation) and success can be reached by all.. Best wishes and happy thoughts for a happy, peaceful, HEALTHY, prosperous New Year for Sutter Ink and followers

Greegor said...

Hey, Kurt.

Excellent, excellent show. Well done. Can. Not. Wait. For. Season. Three.

As a displaced New Englander in Australia, the only way I could get the show earlier this year was through a buddy of mine who's an IT maniac. We gulped down both seasons in, like, four afternoons. Since then we've been evangelists for SOA in our little patch of Oz.

The ex-military guy in me appreciates the sense of brotherhood and community found in the show (even if that community is far from idyllic). Oddly enough, that sense of community was present in one of the other (of very, very few) shows that I watched or collected: Northern Exposure. Yeah, I know - on the surface you couldn't ask for two more dissimilar shows.

Anyway, thanks for giving us something with texture and interest to watch. Keep the self-loathing at bay. I guess it's the price paid... the pendulum swinging both ways, that is... little acts of destruction evening out the creative instinct. The universe's tax, if you will.

Good blog, good show. Thanks again.

Marineposa said...

Wow! I must respond. First, will AA help me express myself that honestly? Though I'm not an addict I'll join! How ironic that you hate people--your work has brought you more of us! And we all want a piece of you--you willingly bleed for us. It's like there a million full of sound and fury Kurt Sutters in that head with a brilliant spark to let them shine through. I'm self-conscious--I don't allow the self to the open range. So, I often ask myself why I'm such a crazy fan? When deep inside I always thought Hollywood is evil! That we would look back and compare it to the long gone Roman expectacle! You see the inner critic was silenced the moment I saw the first episode of SOA. Do what we fans do--ignore the critics and focus on the show. Of course if in some sick twisted way it fuels the work then do what you must... Can't wait for Sep 2010! Viewing party at my house!

Tsalagi said...

I knew at least one of the writers for SOA was a friend of Bill's. It is so good to hear such honesty for someone with time. I had 16 years on 8/18, but still manage to be an idiot from time to time (still have a lot of work to do I guess). I just love how you had Jemma using service to others as a way out of her inner torment.
The bondage of self is a bitch. It is a constant battle; one that I actually enjoy when I am putting some good hard work into helping others, but a battle I loathe if I rest on my laurels at all for long. It is so easy to get tired.

Your wife is the best actress out there. If she doesn't get some kind of recognition for her work on SOA, then the critics have utterly failed.
Keep up the amazing work brother! Keep passing it on!

Anonymous said...

sounds familliar... get rid of all your chains and die old and happy after you got wise on any day in the future...

Cheers from a german reader...

Anonymous said...

You and your wife are amazing artists and I want to thank you for entertaining me. Love the show!

dadgadjohn said...

We have much in common. Reading this post was a little like looking in the mirror.

Thank you for your honesty.

sskingsolver said...

So that's why I feel a kindred spirit to you and SOA. I've been a friend of Bill's since 1984 and ditto to almost everything you said.
Happy New year to you and yours.

m1k3y said...

I love SOA. I have been clean for 4 years and 3 months and it has been a long road. It is getting easier though and I am grateful for every day clean. Here is to another year of being clean for the both of us!

Jaime said...

I loved loved loved this. Thank you for sharing. Please keep being brutely honest, so that you can keep being humble, so you can keeping creating amazing television.
I just love my fellows and celebrate your success as a result of your recovery.

mikonos said...

Don't expect or want you to post this. Very self observant, kudos on that. But understand you and the crew are not "experts" on the biker community or bikes. When questions come up about boots or sneakers, leave it alone. Don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. Bikers don't like direction and they frankly don't follow that kind of "well, if you understood the biker lifestyle you would know they don't wear boots they wear sneakers" You know what? They wear whatever they want and they dress their bikes however they want. There is no bullshit formula or "how does my ass look in these jeans?". The bikes are often Dyna style but usually older FXR bikes that are arguably the best frames built in the history of the motor company. Look at a group of outlaws and they have every imaginable combination of dress and bike style. If you want to tell them a cut down windshield or fairing is "out of style", go for it but they don't really care and they might pop you in the mouth but drink a beer with you later.

Anyhoo, to your point on hiding behind an alias. Michael Vos, founder of Von Dutch Kustom Cycles. Live in Yorba Linda California USA. And I had a few of the pop in the mouth experiences.....but not that resulted in those looking at me like an asshole.

Elizabeth Grace Ruff said...

I finally got a moment to catch on things after Christmas and when I read your blog all I could think was, "Ohmigosh... he has practically described me in a nutshell!"

We must be related! bahaha. Just kidding.

I loved it and I love to continue reading your posts! Just thought I would pop and in and say a little something!

:) Elizabeth

Outsider said...

man I wish there was a merciful god or any god but there sure as fuck isn't

Outsider said...

I don't like people much either, misanthropy, but there are the exceptions that prove the rule.....
and restore my appreciation of how we all suffer from
the human condition....

Maybe humanity is a scourge in some ways...
Too successful for it's own good...
But the social darwinism that says only the Strong
have the right to survive.....is about as unfair and unegalitarian and politically manipulative as it gets...

So there's the Paradox....One can be a personal misanthrope..While still having sympathy for those of us suffering the malaise of the human condition
Meaning most everyone....except maybe for the worst killers and oppressors who are twisted beyond recognition by their own demons...
Life is a high stakes game we all lose in the

Sabrina said...

Coming in late on this one, but wanted to say that honesty is refreshing even when dark. Quite a few things I can relate to in this particular blog. Hope 2010 is as good to you and yours as 2009 was!

isagenie3 said...

Wow, Kurt I just stumbled across your 2009 year in review. Thanks for the words of wisdom.

I thought I was the only one who abhorred new years resolutions ... and who, even though I live a very blessed life, on certain days can be one step away from my own personal suicidal blend.

One dark, damaged heart to another, thanks for putting it out there. Thanks for the inspiration. I wish you and Katey and the Sons the peace and balance in 2010!

Chadler C aka Chub Daddy said...

Love ya bro! Any friend of Bill or Jimmy is a friend of mine. 2/4 will make 13 years since my last drink or drug. Had no clue you were one of "us" before reading this and the references to inventory and not being God. Now it all makes sense why I love your shit so much and think Sons is the best show ever made: You're a sick mother fucker too! Seriously, I used to think Dexter was the best thing on. (Still love it by the way). But Sons far surpasses any show I have ever loved. If you can out-dark Dexter you gotta be a beautifully sick person. Thanks for keeping it real! -Chub Daddy (aka Chadler C) friend of Bill W, Jimmy K, and huge Sutter fan!!!

Lostbhoy said...

Dude u are inspiring and refreshingly honest. I have only actually just found out you are Otto!! lol Can't wait for new eps and your wife is an amazingly talented actress but just like the way Lost gets overlooked way too often, that is happening with your cast too which is shocking! Peace Bro :P

Sean from Windsor, Ont. said...

Hey, I stumbled on your blog after someone recommended your shows to me, honestly though I still haven't checked them out.

Congratulations on making 16 years, that's a lot of days at a time. I'm in my second shot at my first year and it's nice to see another example of someone that's come through, continued on and prospered.

I'll have to check out your work. Thanks for sharing your thoughts


text:
Saturday, August 30, 2008

Finally a Home of Our Own

After running around Delhi with the other Fulbrighters learning about India, the Fulbright program, getting sick, and safety concerns, Michele (a fellow Fulbrighter) and I have moved into our Delhi flat in Saket. The flat is spacious and well furnished, but hot, like everything else! Hopefully it will cool off soon (fingers crossed). The market by our apartment is also really nice, it has a movie theater, lots of shops and resturants, including a McDonalds (which I probably wont eat at) and a Benningan's (which I am kind of intreged by).
I headed up to North Delhi to see the University of Delhi campus, and to see how long it will take to get there from Saket. The School of Economics looks like any other college in Delhi, but the whole campus is huge. I am glad I know where I need to go, becuase I am meeting professors from the Dept of Sociology on Wendesday, and now I wont get lost. Everyone I talked to said it would take an hour to get to the University from Saket (to see the distance look at a map- they are practically on different ends of the city), but I might leave two hours for my first visit, just in case.
For now I am happy to have two days off until I have to start my Hindi studies and my research.

Monday, August 25, 2008

In Delhi!

I am sitting in an internet cafe in New Delhi (South Delhi). After a long (14 hour) flight to India, where I had a free seat next to me (yay!) and two kids screaming and kiking my seat behind me (boo!). I am finally here. The flight got in about 5 min early (to India, I did not even think that was possible) but that just ment that I waited over an hour for my bags to appear. Once finally getting my baggage, I wheeled my cart out into the card of people looking for a sign with my name on it (my driver). I did not find him but I did find Aditi (another Fulbrighter) who had been on my flight (except we did not know it). We hugged, it was so nice to see a familiar face! We found our driver, got out of the airport, wheeled our carts through tons of traffic, thick smoggy Delhi air, and way too many people, to our taxi. our driver litterally pushed a car out of the way to enable us to get our bags and persons into the taxi, and off we went. After a nights sleep in our hotel we both woke up at 5:30am (ahhh jet lagged). We went to breakfast, and then Aditi invited me to visit her Nani ji (grandma). So we hung out with her and went to get cellphones with the help of her uncle, this was a chore within its self since you need so many documents its crazy (you need a photo, passport, drivers lisense, offical documents etc). When that was finally done, we went back to the hotel and met up with some other Fulbrighters for Dinner. Then it was off to bed. Orientation starts today, I hope to be fully oriented by Thursday.
Till next time,

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Leaving on Sat. 23rd!

I am leaving NYC to begin this new adventure and blog!


text:
Saturday, October 11, 2008

Yum Kippur and Dashara

This week was the Hindu holiday of Dashara, which celebrates the triumph of Ram over Ravan (the 10 headed demon and kidnapper of Sita- Rams wife). Basically Ram kills Ravan and rescues Sita. On Dashara, this "fight" is re-enacted in "Ramlilas" or performances where actors dress up as the characters involved and perform the story. It is also re-enacted through the burning of large effigies of Ravan, his brother, and son. These effigies are large paper machie-like puppets filled with fireworks. In this way, someone "playing Ram" will shoot a arrow (often fire tipped) at the puppets causing the puppet to begin to burn, and then let off the fireworks, making lots of noise, smoke, and fire. There are large performances broadcast on national tv, and smaller ones in individual colonies (neighborhoods). These performances
usually take place right around sundown or 6:20pm- the time that Ravan was supposedly killed

This year was particularly fun because Dashara and Yum Kippur (the Jewish day of Atonement- when Jews fast and go to synagogue to repent for last year's wrongs and have a good new year) fell on the same day. This was exciting because many Hindus had been fasting for at least one of the 9 days leading up to Dashara- these days are called Navratri (literally meaning 9 days). These 9 days celebrated the goddess (Shakti/Devi) and her 9 forms. (Ram supposedly prayed to the goddess during Navratri which gave him the power to defeat Ravan.) Thus when I told people I was fasting they were a little confused about why I had waited to fast until Dashara, when no one else was fasting. It was still fun describing "my holiday" which was on the same day as "their holiday."

I broke my fast with traditional Dashara food: chole (chick peas) and Poori (fried roti-like-bread), supplied by our tiffin service. It was very good but too oily to break your fast with, and it made me a bit nauseous. I miss my bagels, spread, and smoked salmon!

On the other hand, describing traditional Yum Kipper food to my Hindi teacher allowed me to describe the finer points of Jewish cucumber pickle (in Hindi!) and how it is different from Indian pickle (made from hard mangoes- not the ones you get in the US- lemons, and chilies). It was very hard to describe. Indian pickle is spicy, red in color, and not cooling like a good cucumber pickle. In any case, I might have to find a way to get someone to bring a jar of Jewish pickle to my Indian friends here, because now they are all curious to try it.

No comments:


text:
Sunday, October 4, 2015

Sheena Douglass Fall Chickens

Good Morning Ladies,
We had a great time at the stamp show in Fort Wayne, IN yesterday. The show was smaller this year, but we still found plenty we just had to have. I thought I was coming home and creating, but when I got here I was very tired and my head was swimming with ideas.
The card for today is Sheena Douglass Fall Chickens
This card was created using the Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Sketchy collection. The bare tree is a different set from the kids with the chickens. The scene was stamped using watercolor paper and Archival ink. It was colorized using watercolor crayons. Extra grass was added along the bottom.
Happy Scraps,
Mrs. Swandog

No comments: