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Rebecca Tarbotton
Rainforest Action Network

On Dec. 26, Rebecca Tarbotton, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, died while vacationing along the west coast of Mexico, north of Puerto Vallarta. In a freak accident at the beach, she got tossed around in rough surf, took too much water into her lungs, and asphyxiated. She was 39 years old.

Tarbotton had been at the helm of RAN since August 2010, and had worked with the organization for almost six years. Under her leadership, RAN has focused on the intersections between forests, fossil fuels, and climate change, and run aggressive campaigns pushing corporations to change the way they do business. Most recently, Tarbotton helped convince entertainment giant Disney to adopt a major new policy that will eliminate the use of paper connected to the destruction of endangered forests.

“Becky reshaped Rainforest Action Network, and was a force against deforestation and corporate greed,” said Michael Brune, former executive director of RAN and now executive director of the Sierra Club. “She was a rising star. We need more women to be leading environmental organizations, and losing a leader and friend like Becky is especially painful.”

Bill McKibben of (and a Grist board member) also had the highest praise for Tarbotton: “She was, among other things, one of the most spirited of environmentalists — no long-faced doomsayer, and no too-careful D.C. tactician, but a fighter with a spring in her step and a bit of fire in her eye. A true heir to giants like David Brower.”

Tarbotton teamed up with leaders of other environmental groups to call for direct action and “big, brash, nonviolent climate protests.” In a 2010 opinion piece in Grist, she joined with McKibben and Philip Radford of Greenpeace USA to make this argument: “We’re making progress, but not as fast as the physical situation is deteriorating. Time is not on our side, so we’ve concluded that going forward mass direct action must play a bigger role in this movement, as it eventually did in the suffrage movement, the civil-rights movement, and the fight against corporate globalization.”

She put her money where her mouth is, getting arrested at the big Keystone XL protests in front of the White House last year. She also took part in direct action to fight mountaintop removal, according to Nell Greenberg, RAN’s communications director: “She participated in several protests at Bank of America’s headquarters as well as during their shareholder meeting in 2010. That work led to BofA and several other top banks passing policies to cut funding for companies that practice mountaintop-removal coal mining, a critical first step in curbing the practice and moving banks to direct funding away from coal.”

Tarbotton leaves behind Mateo Williford, her longtime partner and husband of five months, who works at solar company Sungevity.

Public memorial services will be held in San Francisco, Calif., and in Vancouver, B.C.; dates have not yet been announced.

RAN posted this quote from Tarbotton on its Facebook page: “The project of our time is bigger even than climate change. We need to be setting our sights higher and deeper. What we’re really talking about, if we’re honest with ourselves, is transforming everything about the way we live on this planet.”

Watch a speech Tarbotton gave in October 2012:


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Archive for December, 2009

Renegade University with Mike Klingler

Mike welcomes you to Marketing Merge Professional Training area. He prepares you and lets you know; you must be patient and take one step at a time. This is so critical. You will learn how to get established on the web and attract prospects to you. What you learn will help you succeed in any type of business and or product you are involved with.

Then he asks you to prepare yourself to be successful. Remember this is up to you. He can only prepare you and guide you… He suggests no less than one week and up to one month to get prepared for the step-by-step training. Before I go any further, do not let this over whelm you.

He gives you steps to prepare yourself for a new beginning. He suggests you do a walk through and explore. The professional training can have a great impact on your life and success.

The start check list is where you should start. Watch the tutorials and follow the directions given to you. You must take you time and ease into it. Be patient and take what ever time it takes, that is okay, there is no time frame.

To start your training go to the ‘Attraction Marketing’ icon this is in the back office. While you are doing this you will be doing marketing on the internet while you are learning.

You will be growing, getting yourself established and building your list of prospects. Also very important you will be building a relationship by sending value, and sharing your story and your personality. Also you will be able to monetize your list for extra-cash flow as you learn. Building a list saves time and cost saving. This is the fundamental key to our success.

The back office takes you to all the icons. Also takes you to tutorials, news articles, and to the ones you will be using in detail.

You also have your own links that promote you and share with people who may want to join with you. They can do so.

There are also trainers, coaches and experts to help you be successful.

One tutorial I suggest you should pay attention to is “How to customize and Personalize Your Training Plan and Business Development.

Just to give you some insight what you will learn in the Social Marketing area is as followed. You will learn Content Sharing, Article Marketing, Blogs and Websites, Misc Tutorials, Writing with Pull, Podcasting and so on.

Mike Klingler’s Training Was a Blessing

How did I get introduced to Renegade University? First of all I received an e-mail on some training he was doing on Twitter. At this point I was desperate, totally confused and yes ready to pack it in. I was completely new and had no idea what I got myself into or what I was doing.

He was my ‘life saver.’ This is my own experience but his training is awesome. There is so much value and Mike encourages you as you go through the training with him. He is so patient, down to earth, one of my goals is, one day have the opportunity to meet him in person. He has so much value to offer you and yes I believe anyone can learn from him. Remember at one point he had to start somewhere just like everyone else.

My Christmas Wish!!

My Christmas Wish!

Unfortunately many of us are panicking and going ‘insane’ during the month of December. Trying to get everything done before the ‘big day.’ I feel sad though, because it comes so fast and then it is over till next year.

Personally I enjoy taking a drive at night to see all the Christmas decorations and the lights. It is so beautiful and colorful.

I enjoy walking through the mall shopping for gifts and watching other people’s reactions. It gives me great pleasure to see the little ones visiting Santa and having their pictures taken with him. I enjoy hearing the Christmas songs and sometimes I catch myself singing alone with them, what do you enjoy about Christmas?

Your season might include timeless family decorations all over your home. Christmas cards, photos, lots of talk about other Christmas’s or of Santa. I can still very clearly remember how excited I was because Santa was coming. I often think of the times when my daughter was young, her experiences and beliefs with Santa.

Usually you have a wish list, shopping lists, to-do- lists, food lists. We are constantly on the go,

This is the time to enjoy yourself and those around you. It is a time to celebrate with family and friends. It gives me great pleasure to be able to share and give, to the special ones in my life.

I know you may feel busy with all that you must accomplish such as parties, shopping, wrapping gifts or the food that still needs to be prepared. Remember you should provide time for yourself. You need time to relax and enjoy all the gifts you have been given as well, and spend memorable times with love ones.

So what is my Christmas wish? I wish that everyone had the opportunity to have an enjoyable Christmas. I wish I could be part of their life for that day, to help them enjoy this very special day. I know this will not happen but I do realize how lucky I am and my family. I am very thankful.

I would like to say to everyone, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To your health, happiness, and success. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Mindset

The word can’t you learned at a very young age in your life. It is a very powerful word in our vocabulary. Most individuals use it a lot and this is where it becomes so powerful. We let ourselves believe we can not accomplish our dreams and goals. Also we use it as an excuse or an easy way out and we let it rule us.

You must realize that the entrepreneurial mindset does not mean that you must be very intelligent and have more education. If you have done some research you will realize that some very successful entrepreneurs did not finish their high school education. Until I did some research I did not believe this. You must think like an entrepreneur. They do not let things get them down or say that’s it I quit. They see problems as an opportunity to learn and do not let setbacks get in their way. They have the stamina, will power, determination which keeps them striving. They know what the outcome could be.

You must believe in yourself, and remember what your dreams and goals are. Ask yourself, can I succeed with my job I have and accomplish what I would like to have in life. If the answer is no or probably not then here is your opportunity. Myself I wanted to be financial free and I knew I could not succeed with just a 9 to 5 job.

Sure I was terrified at first and yes the first words I said were, I can’t do this. I am a newbie, no computer skills and so on. My attitude has changed, but remembers it takes time and well power. You must believe in yourself. Maybe other people do not believe in you, so be it. Let them voice their opinion. You must realize the only one you need to deal with is you, no one else.  If you listen to everyone with their negative attitude this could do a lot of damage. You may quit and say yes they were correct.  I can’t do this. How crazy you were to think you could do this. This is a waste of time and you just stick to your job and say I am secure.  No you are not. You could loose your job any time. There are no guarantees.

Those without the entrepreneurial spirit fail at having a successful business more so than those who become entrepreneurs at heart.

Online Systems – “Miracle In A Box”

This is for anyone who wants to start their own business from home, and has no idea where to begin. I can relate to this, because so many of us are in this situation at one time or another.

Before I begin, I am going to tell you my story, but remember everyone may have another story different than mine. I am telling you this, because I do not want you to be in the same situation that I was in.

I started to look into an online business with no idea where to go, or what to believe. I think this is one reason why some of us do not start an online business. I was so inexperienced, a complete “Newbie” with very little knowledge of the computer. Actually in some ways it was my enemy. Why? I was afraid of it. Sure I knew how to do e-mails and surf the net. That was about it.

I wanted to make money fast, the easy way. Get rich over night, be a millionaire, retire from my “just over broke” job tomorrow and fire my boss. This was fantastic. My problems were solved. STOP. How wrong I was.

So my next step was to try something else. All these money making systems, I call them “A Miracle in a Box”. One problem though, there are so many to choose from. I know the one that makes me money fast, be a millionaire over night. Yes this has happened to some individuals, not I though.

So I found my money making machine. Now I am going to be rich, let the system do all the work. That is for me, the lazy way on my part. I was so excited and joined. I was plugged in, and away I go counting all this money I will make in my sleep. This was a big mistake. I was so lost, completely frustrated. What on earth, have I done? You see yes some systems work, but some of them are not made for newbie’s. Sure I was plugged into this system and on my way making money. I had no idea how this system worked and what was involved. I had no idea what was next. I tried for several months to get help. I tried so many different angles and nothing was working. I was told just to go into the back office and I will get all the knowledge I need. I did this, and was completely lost. I tried to get someone to coach me. I needed step by step instructions. Did I get the help? NO! Then I was even more shocked, this system was costing me more money than I thought. The fee to be on the system was breaking me. I thought it was a one time fee. You see that was my fault I did not do my homework.

Okay, what do I do next? Feel sorry for myself and quit completely. Believe me this did cross my path. It was an easy way out. Something held me back. I am not a quitter; I do not give up that easy.

So yes I did quit the system and that was an ordeal in itself. All the channels I had to take.
My next step I was not sure of, but I kept seeking help, advice, coaching and finally received it. I thank everyone for their help and encouragement.

The statistics are, many people quit after 90 days and I can understand why. My advice is: do your homework. If it looks too good to be true, stop and investigate it. Get all the information you can. Ask a lot of questions. If a person wants you to join their system, check them out, because this is so important. Some will promise you the world.

You see I was left out in the cold, blinders on. No one helped me. No sponsor or coach who would help this ‘newbie’ a farm girl who was completely lost in this technology. I felt hurt, ‘stupid’ and foolish. No one had the time for me.

Now I am back on my feet, taking each day as it comes and learning. Yes I still get frustrated; not enough hours in one day to get what I want accomplished, but stop. Do what you can, do not overwhelm yourself, give yourself time and space. You can do it.

So to wind down, remember there are some awesome systems “A Miracle in a Box”. Just do your homework, and take your time. Time is so valuable.

I have found an awesome system now, and it is called MLMLeadSystemPro and yes it is for newbie’s, but I am not promoting it today. This is not the reason why I told you my story. I do not want anyone to make the mistakes I did.

The secret is “Law of Attraction” and this is on going. Do not focus on the things in life you do not want. Focus on what you want in life. Three things you should ask yourself.  They are, what you want in life, next believe that it is already yours. Last of all, receive it, feel it now and do not doubt it. ACT NOW!
Also our purpose in life is up to you. Our life is what we created, it is our choice.

To everyone, follow your dreams and goals and go after them.

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Get Groove Yoga Updates, Follow us on:

New Students

First Time at Groove?

Our teachers are known for their infectiously positive spirits, whimsically motivating dialogues and mutual love for all things yoga and groovy. But don’t let them fool you. You may be mesmerized into forgetting about the countless chaturangas you’ve done in today’s class, but it’s guaranteed that you will remember them tomorrow morning. They are that good!

We teach a vinyasa based flow to music, connecting each movement to breath which is suitable for all; there are modifications and advanced options for almost every pose. All we ask is you honor where you are in your yoga journey and take from each class exactly what you need. We fully believe if you commit to a consistent practice at Groove, you will find total transformation in your body & mind. Leaner, stronger, more peaceful, less reactive.

Preparing for class

  1. Dress in stretchy clothing that allows you to move freely.
  2. Arrive 10-15 minutes early to register and fill-out our health waiver. Our waiver is available for download so you can fill it out now and bring it with you to class.
  3. Bring a yoga mat, water bottle and a towel. We have water, yoga mats and yogitoes towels available for purchase for your convenience.

“We believe everyone is a beginner for the first 10 years of practice. There is no judgment in our house, so come have some fun! We welcome all levels, from someone walking in for his/her very first class to the yogarillas who could easily join the circus. And bring your kiddos or your Grandma, all ages are welcome!”


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Monday, September 23, 2013

Flesh For Frankenstein (1973), aka Andy Warhol's Frankenstein

Whenever I think of the most disturbing films I've ever seen, "Flesh For Frankenstein" (1973) has got to be near the top of the list. The concept of Frankenstein and his experiments is something that pop culture tends to gloss over; those cartoonishly square-headed green-skinned monsters we see at Halloween are so far removed from Mary Shelley's original creation that it's easy to forget the "monster" is a corpse, and not even an entire corpse. It's pieced together from numerous dead bodies, as if body parts could be interchangeable and human beings could be little more than elaborate dolls. Filmed in Serbia back to back with "Blood for Dracula" and utilizing many of the same cast members, "Flesh for Frankenstein" was marketed in the United States as "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein", just like its sibling was retitled "Andy Warhol's Dracula". Both films were directed by Paul Morrissey, veteran of the Warhol-produced films "Heat", "Trash", and "Flesh".  Like those films, "Frankenstein" and "Dracula" both feature Warhol personality Joe Dallesandro. While both films are identical in tone and style, only "Frankenstein" ended up being so over the top gory, nihilistic, and absolutely bizarre. It also has the distinction of being the only film of the two that was filmed in 3D. While it is technically a spoof of Frankenstein films, it is played straight and has a serious side that goes right alongside the ridiculous elements. It can be read both ways, often simultaneously.

"Ve vill find ze perfect...nasum."
The one and only Udo Kier stars as Baron Frankenstein, seemingly obsessed not only with the reanimation of dead bodies, but with the creation of a master Serbian race. Frankenstein lives in the family castle with a woman who appears to be his wife and the mother of his two children, who we see in the opening scene prowling Frankenstein's lab and dissecting a doll.  Later we come to realize that the Baroness is not only Frankenstein's wife, but also his sister. Whether or not the two are really the parents of the children is unclear, but incest is the least of the sexual perversions going on in the Frankenstein castle.  The Baroness (Monique van Mooren) suffers from her lack of a sex life with her "husband" and starts to set her sights on local stud peasant Nicholas (Joe Dallesandro), who is constantly found in sexual situations with various young maidens in the village. Aided by the required bizarre assistant Otto (Arno Juerging), the Baron presides over his two monsters in his laboratory. Before bringing them to life, he removes the female zombie from its holding tank and cuts it open, fondling its insides in an orgasmic way, then having sex with it, after which he delivers one of the movie's most unforgettable lines: "To know death, Otto, you have to fuck life in the gall bladder!"

Frankenstein is determined to find the ideal head for his male monster, one that has the perfect Serbian nose (referred to here as a "nasum"). The Baron and Otto find the right head on local peasant Sacha (Srdjan Zelenovic), a mild mannered man who has aspirations to become a monk.  The bawdy Nicholas is his friend and takes him to a whorehouse, but Sacha isn't interested in sex. The Baron and Otto don't know this, and wait for him to emerge with the now-drunken Nicholas. They knock Nicholas unconscious and decapitate Sacha then and there, the Baron holding his head triumphantly. Whatever Frankenstein's methods are, they're pretty amazing because they don't even pack it in ice. Little does he know that Sacha's disinterest in sex makes him an unlikely candidate as the father of a master race, and when he attaches the head to the male monster, everyone is disappointed when he fails to respond to the beautiful female creature.

Meanwhile, Nicholas seeks shelter at the castle after the locals find him next to Sacha's decapitated body and suspect him of murder. Flustered by his studliness, the icy Baroness takes him in and hires him to...tend to her stables, if you know what I mean. When the Baron decides to bring his two creations to the dinner table that night, Nicholas recognizes his former friend and begins to investigate, uncovering Frankenstein's experiments. The two children also are aware of the experiments, lurking in the hidden passageways of the castle and spying on their mother's and father's perverted sex lives. At one point they sneak into the laboratory and gaze silently at the horrors on display there, including a set of disembodied lungs and a heart, attached to wires and tubes and breathing on their own. Frankenstein  himself spies on the Baroness when she's with Nicholas, yet seems to be completely uninterested in her otherwise.

The Baron eventually loses control of the morbid situation he's set in motion. The dangerously disturbed Otto goes haywire with jealousy and sexual frustration, first by attacking the castle maid and killing her when he attempts to fondle her insides the way Frankenstein does to the female zombie. One of the film's weirdest scenes is when he chases her through the laboratory until he has her cornered. He attacks her in a sexual manner, and there is a loud ripping sound on the soundtrack of the film, then she falls over a grating, her internal organs falling out of her body and dangling in 3D at the camera.

Later, Otto attempts to do the same to the female zombie and destroys her in the process, too, infuriating the Baron to the point where he strangles Otto to death. Nicholas, whom the Baron has tied up and held captive in the laboratory, watches as the Baroness forces herself into the equation by demanding that her brother let her take the male monster back to her bedroom for his sexual services. The Baron reluctantly agrees, but the male creature possesses brute strength and crushes her during the sex act, her ribs and back cracking loudly as he kills her. The monster carries her back to the lab, where the Baron has just killed Otto. The Baron goes berserk at seeing his sister dead, and orders the monster to kill Nicholas. Instead it goes after Frankenstein himself, leading to the Grand Guignol bloodbath finale: the monster shears off Frankenstein's hand with an iron gate door. After the Baron sprays blood all over the lab, the creature impales him with a spiked pole, the Baron's liver dangling off the end of it as it's thrust into the camera. The Baron delivers (de-livers?) a hilariously long dying speech, then expires in a kneeling position. Nicholas asks the creature to free him, but instead it commits suicide by ripping its own guts out, preferring to die rather than go on living. With the rest of the cast dead, the film ends as the children enter the lab and regard Nicholas curiously, then make preparations to re-enact the opening dissection, this time using Nicholas instead of the doll.

No mad scientist's lab is complete without one of these.
The movie has a strong atmosphere of doom and horror, even without the fantastic gore, but the gore is a large part of the movie's experience. Never has the true horror of Frankenstein's bodily invasions been so explicitly portrayed in a movie. Although the Hammer "Frankenstein" films came close, none of them paired their gore with such a strong sense of sexuality, and none of them would have dared tackle such pervasive themes of both necrophilia and incest. The actual sex scenes in the film are not pornographic, although the overall tone is way stronger than a typical R rated film. They're also a little unusual, shall we say, and more than a little ridiculous, like when the Baroness ecstatically licks Nicholas's armpit. While there is a lot of female nudity, Dallesandro also appears full frontal in the film, which even in 2013 still seems to push the envelope of what is and isn't acceptable in onscreen sex scenes. Indeed, "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" was shown in the US with an "X" rating upon its release, and I'd advise against watching the edited R-rated version that circulates (the version on Netflix is listed as unrated, but is actually the R rated cut that removes most of the gore and sex scenes by either cutting them out entirely or destroying the film composition by zooming awkwardly onto less-offensive parts of the frame). The nudity and graphic violence are very much essential to the movie's effect.

Something seems to be wrong down there...
Although the movie is clearly not meant to be taken seriously, it's also hard not to get drawn into its strange world, which has a lot to do with the quality of the production. The sets are truly amazing, especially Frankenstein's lab, a nightmarish space containing antiquated tile, stone, and of course the essential mad scientist tubes and gadgets. The cinematography is engrossing and always artful, capturing the visual details of the sets and outlining their depth and character. The presence of Joe Dallesandro seems completely nonsensical, since everything about the movie is European except for him and his displaced New York personality, complete with a strong Brooklyn accent. Udo Kier's overwrought performance as the Baron is both absurd and strangely compelling, such as the scene where he desperately tries to get the male zombie to become sexually aroused by the female, shrieking over and over to the female zombie "Kiss him! What are you waiting for, KISS HIM!" Kier plays Baron Frankenstein much like a caricature of Hitler, which seems logical considering he is a sociopath obsessed with creating a 'master race'.

Although Dallesandro's performance is typically wooden, he does have a presence that's hard to deny. Monique van Mooren hits all the right notes as the snobby Baroness, and she even has one of the film's best lines when Dallesandro tries to warn her she's in danger and she shouts at him "How dare you wake me up in the middle of the day when you know I have insomnia!"  The children are especially creepy, as they are silent throughout the entire film and have no lines of dialogue. We see them learning the decadent ways of their parents, even spying on them from the secret passageways when they're having sex, and after the Shakespearean climax of the film they silently approach Nicholas with scalpels, suggesting that Frankenstein's bizarre experiments will continue. While on one hand "Flesh for Frankenstein" is completely absurd and even laughable (and the filmmakers do want you to laugh), its nightmarish world of bodily degradation and sexual excess starts to take on a life of its own.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

Welcome to the wacky world of "Invasion of the Bee Girls", where certain honeys are more than they seem to bee, and even the very act of sexual intercourse can result in your death at the...hands?...of a woman mutated with the genetic material of bees. Hear me, true bee-lievers, it could happen to you just like it did in Peckham, California. Let me tell you all about it.

"Don't look right away, but that woman behind us....why does she have her sunglasses on inside?"
Neil Agar (William Smith, "Grave of the Vampire", "Maniac Cop") is a state agent investigating the death of a bacteriologist who was found dead in a cheap motel room. The scientist was associated with the Brandt Research center, a government-sponsored lab in the small town of Peckham, and his death seems to have been caused by a heart attack that occurred during a moment of sexual intercourse. His female partner is unknown. Before Agar can decide the death isn't suspicious after all, more bodies start turning up that look a lot like this:

It seems that Peckham has a strange epidemic on its hands, and the exclusively male victims all suffer the same symptoms: fatal thrombosis during sexual intercourse. Neil meets the Brandt center's chief librarian Julie Zorn (Victora Vetri, "Rosemary's Baby"), who tips him off about the important scientists working at Brandt. The sudden rash of deaths has the locals panicked, and by "locals" I should say stereotypically piggish semi-thugs who do things like sexually assault women in alleys, attend rabble-rousing union meetings and drink a lot of beer. The local sheriff holds a town meeting to warn everyone to be celibate, although the men are not about to put on any purity rings, and more of them wind up dead after coming into contact with several suspiciously beautiful women who like to wear large dark sunglasses. At night. Brandt's sex expert, Henry Murger, announces that he has a bizarre theory to explain the deaths, but he is conveniently run over by a car with a mysterious (and we presume beautiful) driver before he can meet with Neil and Julie to discuss his theory.
They also have this suspect honeycomb-vision, accompanied by a buzzing sound.
Your showcase contains this beautifully complicated instrument panel, essential for any world domination plot!
The figure who keeps appearing in the background at all these points of interest is Dr. Susan Harris (Anitra Ford), a lovely entomologist whom the horny male scientists describe as an 'iceberg'. It's not long into the movie where we start to realize women are deliberately and literally screwing these men to death, usually after they reveal that their eyes have turned completely black. This naturally never deters any of the men from screwing them, leading to this epidemic of sexually exhausted male corpses. Neil discovers that Murger, the one man not to succumb to this strange phenomenon, was gay and had a secret male lover. Could this bee the reason someone had to resort to the more patently boring method of vehicular homicide?
"Would you like some coffee with that sugar, Dr. Harris?"
Ha! Now my sunglasses are actually ON my EYEBALLS.
Another scientist named Herb Kline falls victim when Susan Harris suddenly warms up to him and invites him to her house for dinner, where she seduces him and then kills him with sex, her eyes turning black. SHOCK-she's ONE of them! Well, not only is she one of them, she's the creator of them! Harris has developed a way to transform ordinary women through a process of controlled mutation. After Kline is dead, she phones Mrs. Kline and lures her to her laboratory, where she has this strange hive-like dome equipped with what appear to be giant ray guns. Harris and the other "bee girls" force Mrs. Kline into their bee-o-dome (har har) and bombard her nude body with gamma rays, a gooey substance that looks suspiciously like marshmallow topping, and the final key ingredient: a swarm of irradiated bees. After her transformation is complete, her eyes are black too, and we presume she is now equipped with a killer bee-vagina like the others. Hvvvvvvvvvvvv....

So that's how it is in their hive....
Stay calm, sheriff...don't bother her and she won't bother you.
After Mrs. Kline becomes part of this insidious insect plot, the sheriff goes to inform her of her husband's death, at which point she attempts to seduce him right then and there while he's telling her about it. Perhaps only her bizarre sense of timing foils the plan by spooking the sheriff, who bolts. Proving that a bee girl is not invulnerable is another incident where Brandt geneticist Stan Williams is attacked by his recently transformed wife, but he manages to strangle her with her own stocking before he dies, resulting in one of the most bizarre crime scenes that any investigator has ever stumbled upon:
It's all about to come to an abrupt end for Dr. Harris and her bee girls, however, bee-cause super agent Neil is hot on their trail, assisted by the lovely librarian Julie. Neil connects all the dots in the nick of time and races back to Harris's lab, where Harris and her deadly women have kidnapped Julie and are attempting to turn her into one of them. Neil rescues Julie and fires a bullet into Harris's bee-machine, breaking it and saving the day. The bee girls die, and the mating process in Peckham can finally go back to normal.

Although it doesn't really work as a horror movie or even a science fiction film, "Invasion of the Bee Girls" is a true gem, a wild time capsule full of 1970s decor, politics, and attitudes. Like "The Stepford Wives" which came a few years after, this movie makes a dark satire about the power struggle between men and women of this era, seemingly stoking men's fears that women were gaining the upper hand and had malicious intent once they gained power. Anitra Ford is great as the film's female villain, although the script doesn't really bog down with too many details, ensuring that her character remains a cipher. The film is lacking a scene where she explains her motivation for doing what she's doing, leaving us to draw our own conclusions. The movie plays it safe by making both sides of the issue into caricatures; although the obligatory romance blossoms between Neil and Julie, when they first meet she gives him an unsmiling, hostile greeting. Dr. Harris herself is the very definition of a frigid bitch, warming up only when it's time to seduce a man and kill him. The men in the movie are almost all foolish boors--the local townspeople are even depicted as sexually aggressive and violent, and there's a scene where no less than four of them attempt to gang rape Julie. The Brandt scientists are not much better, despite being stuffy brainiac types. Even when men are dropping dead after having sex, they are rendered powerless by any woman who wears provocative clothes. I found it hilarious that the bee girls had to run over Murger with a car because he was gay and therefore immune to their seductive charms, but did the movie have to tell us this via a scene where Neil finds a secret sex room in Murger's house, full of whips, chains, crossdressing items, greek statues, caged birds, an aquarium, and...lava lamps? Who knew a blue lava lamp meant you were gay? Hey, I love lava lamps, so maybe it's true. Hmm!

Any high-tech laboratory is not complete without an ice cream cooler.
It's best not to think about these things too much though when you're watching a B movie (get it?), and my only real complaint with "Invasion of the Bee Girls" is the abrupt, lifeless conclusion. Despite being completely outnumbered by about 10 to 1, Neil is able to easily infiltrate Dr. Harris's lab--she doesn't even lock the door--when Julie is in danger of being transformed. Not only that, all he has to do is fire a single shot into the giant instrument panel and the ENTIRE HIVE is conveniently killed. Dr. Harris is one of the most fascinating characters in the movie, but we know so little about her. It's disappointing that when she's faced with the complete undoing of her evil scheme, she can't even muster up the strength to fight back. Considering she's a mad scientist, she could have at least had a scene where she proclaims her manifesto. Since her vendetta is against men, it would have been interesting to hear her views firsthand. But the worst indignity the movie heaps on her is her death scene. OK, I get it...she's a mad scientist. She wants to take over the world (or at least Peckham) by murdering all the men. She must be stopped, which in horror movies means she must die. But couldn't they have at least given her a spectacular death scene? Did she die when someone threw her into a bubbling cauldron of molten beeswax? Did she get accidentally sealed inside a honeycomb and asphyxiate? Was she burned alive while being embraced by the spirit of Joan of Arc? No, actually this happens:

She just sort of stands there in a daze while her bee-o-dome goes up on a flurry of sparks, and then she is engulfed by a bloom of white light (radiation?), after which she scratches her own face and collapses.

Not very fitting for a mad genius, I say. I liked Dr. Harris, even if she was a little more Valerie Solanis than Naomi Wolfe.

"Invasion of the Bee Girls" doesn't have much in the way of horror, with the exception of the murder of Henry Murger, during which an unseen Harris drives a car into him and crushes his midsection, then while he is lying on the ground dying, violently crushes his entire body by running right over him. There are a lot of beautiful naked women of varying ages and body types, and if this movie had been made in 2013, there wouldn't be a bee girl over the age of 23 in the film. One of the sexiest women in the movie is Beverly Powers, who appeared as Beverly Hills in "Brides of Blood". Beverly was in her mid 30s when she made "Invasion of the Bee Girls", and her character is made to appear slightly older than that, but her seduction scene is one of the best in the film: earlier in the film we see her putting cold cream on her face while snapping at her husband before bedtime, and after being transformed she performs an erotic strip tease for him. Anitra Ford is an interesting lead as well, she has an exotic quality to her and her limited dialogue in the film makes her seem even more mysterious.

I really must have that mirror for my own. My life may depend on it.
Technically, "Invasion of the Bee Girls" is about what you'd expect for a cheap exploitation film from the 1970s. The film stock is often grainy, the editing sometimes rough, and there's nothing in the way of special effects that will make you say "Wow, man!" But the cinematography is endearingly 70s, with a lot of zooms and focus pulls. The decor is even more outrageously, wonderfully dated, as are the clothing and hairstyles of the male characters. The soundtrack is a lot of wakka-wakka funk, especially one piece that features frantic ethereal "bee girl" vocals that sound like a nightmarish B-side (bee side?) to the Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again".

Furthering my love for "Invasion of the Bee Girls" is the fact that it was re-released in the early 1980s as a double-bill second feature under the title "Graveyard Tramps". I can't imagine where the hell anybody came up with that title, as only one scene in the movie takes place in a graveyard and that's during a funeral--but I love it.

Monday, September 16, 2013

I Dismember Mama (1972): Poor Albert and Little Annie

"I Dismember Mama", aka "Poor Albert & Little Annie" (1972) has one of those notorious titles that I have always seen lurking on the outskirts of my awareness, on video shelves, in magazine articles, in catalogs...and all with no idea what kind of movie to which it was attached.  I decided to end this silly game that "I Dismember Mama" and I were playing with each other, and just walk right up and introduce myself. That was when "I Dismember Mama" turned around and whacked me up side of the head. I still haven't recovered.

Directed by Paul Leder, whose career I'm mostly unfamiliar with, "I Dismember Mama" is a low budget curiosity that is full of interesting photography, excellent performances by actors, and a memorably bizarre story. Although its cheapness shows through in almost every scene, it shows just as much art and inspiration as it does technical ineptitude and fragmented editing. If it hadn't featured such convincing performances by the leads, it never would have worked.
"Don't say that you love me, just tell me that you want me."
The first thing we see in the film is a man's face surrounded by darkness, next to a running film projector. The face belongs to Albert Robertson (Zooey Hall), who is currently in a mental hospital. A nurse comes in and interacts with him, gently scolding him with something like "Now Albert, you know you're not supposed to be watching these films..." and we assume these are what proper people refer to as "art films".  When she takes the film out of the projector, Albert goes from mildly irritated to violent in a split second, hurling the startled nurse onto a bed, ripping her clothes off and trying to strangle her. Orderlies intervene in the nick of time, but we immediately understand that Albert is screwed up like a soup sandwich, and appears to be in an institution ill-equipped to deal with him. Albert's doctor tells him Albert's there to deal with his feelings that "all women are whores," and he seems to fixate on his mother (Anne Marie Jordan) most of all. Albert has tried to knife her to death, and because of Albert's lack of remorse for his aberrant behavior, the doctor intends to send him to a state institution. See, Albert's mother is rich, and she has him in some private, low-security hospital, and Albert easily escapes by murdering an orderly.
"NO dear, don't take that Brady Bunch acting job, I'm warning you, it will kill your career."

From what we see of Mrs. Robertson, Albert had the right idea after all, as she seems like a self-absorbed snob. We see her talking down to her housekeeper, Alice (Marlene Tracy), and she blames Albert's outburst on his victim, the nurse, and she pooh-poohs the idea of sending Albert to an institution. She changes her tune though when Albert calls her and tells her he can hardly wait to see her. The police spirit her away to another house, but apparently it never occurs to them to put an officer at the main house. You know, the one Albert knows his mother lives in? When Albert shows up there later, he catches Alice packing her suitcase to leave.  In one of the movie's most disturbing scenes, he begins to torment Alice, threatening her with a knife for information about his mother, then ordering Alice to strip for him and perform a sexy dance. It's an intense scene, and one that both actors carry off expertly, especially Marlene Tracy. She's forced at knifepoint to strip and sing for Albert, and we can see in her eyes when Alice begins to realize Albert will certainly murder her. It's one of the most hair-raising things I've seen in a movie.

But the rest of the film is just as engrossing and disturbing. Alice's preteen daughter, Annie (Geri Reischel), comes home from school after Albert has killed her mother, and the dangerously disturbed Albert tells her that her mother had to go to the doctor because she was ill. After they hang out together for a while, Albert takes a liking to her and apparently decides not to kill her, instead spiriting her away on an idyllic day where they ride paddleboats and a small train. When Albert takes Annie to a hotel, his strange attraction to her starts to manifest itself. Instead of making a sexual advance toward Annie, Albert goes to a bar and picks up a woman there by flashing a little money around. We already know he's going to kill her, and Annie wakes up when it happens, escaping the hotel suite down the fire escape. Albert chases after her and pursues her in the film's climax, which finds them Annie lost in a strange, deserted back alley of the city. They wind up in a mannequin factory, where Annie tries to hide among the figures. Albert spots her though, and accuses her of being "just like all the others", attacking her with a convenient meat cleaver that just happens to by lying nearby. Annie, however, pushes a mannequin into him and he falls out a fourth story window onto the concrete.

"I Dismember Mama" actually doesn't feature any dismemberment, and eventually the mother is completely forgotten, so the title is nearly meaningless. This is probably one of the biggest problems that the movie has, since enough screen time is given to Albert's heartless mother that we start to care about whether or not he gets her, and we want him to. Although Albert is a compulsive murderer and rapist, we get the feeling that his mother is completely disassociated from reality, and she can't deal with the truth about Albert. There is also all sorts of ineptitude from the police, who aren't even coherent enough to guess that Albert might return home after escaping from the hospital. Even Albert's "doctor" is a shithead, openly defying the police investigation and refusing to tell Mrs. Robertson that Albert has killed her housekeeper.

"Lookin' out for looooove...."

But these unresolved plot threads are really superfluous anyway, since the film's centerpiece is Zooey Hall. His performance as Albert is as terrifying as David Hess from "Last House on the Left", but Hall endows the character with a likable side too, which really makes it upsetting when he lapses into his deranged behavior. The scene where he threatens Alice and makes her strip is really scary because he is so calm and collected during the whole thing, but his explosive violence in the other murders is just as scary. The terror of Albert is that he's obviously dangerously disturbed, yet he doesn't come up against anybody who can put him in check. The doctor he's assigned is unable to reach him, the hospital staff is unprepared to deal with him, and the victims he selects are seemingly unable to fight back against him. His interest in Annie, however, brings out a childlike side of himself, and it's hard not to feel pity for him when we see his momentary happiness. A lot of the tension, of course, depends on Annie being totally naive about the fact that she's in danger, not to mention that she is in the company of a man who apparently has pedophilic designs on her. After killing her mother, Albert takes her on a day of fun, then spends the night with her in a hotel, and in a bizarre sequence we see them conducting a mock wedding. Albert tells Annie that she's the only pure female he's ever known, uncorrupted by whatever issues he perceives about most women. In the hallucinatory chase through the mannequin factory at the end, surrounded by artificial female bodies in various stages of assembly, there's a moment when Albert finally spots her and sees her with cosmetics on, something we're never quite sure is real or not. This horrifies him and he immediately decides to kill Annie, using a meat cleaver that's conveniently lying nearby--in a mannequin factory! Only Annie's cleverness saves her; using a mannequin as a shield, she manages to push Albert out the window, the mannequin protecting her in the way an adult might protect a child from danger.

"I Dismember Mama" is extremely dated filmmaking, which either adds to or detracts from it, depending on the viewer. The glimpse into the social mores, design, clothes, decor, and attitudes of the 1970s is crucial to the experience, and there's even a ballad that plays over top of the montage where Albert and Annie have their fun day together. I loved one moment when a character was standing outside a hot dog shop that sold hot dogs for 19 cents. Viewers expecting gore will be disappointed, and with good reason in a film that was marketed until a title that features the word "dismember". There is a gory aftermath of a throat-slashing near the beginning, and a briefly glimpsed surface wound during a knife attack, but that's the extent. The original title is also misleading, though, and more than a little vague. I can't say that "I Dismember Mama" is a pleasant experience, but considering horror movies are meant to get under our skin, this one succeeded in spades with me. It is artfully disturbing and tastefully done, considering that it touches on themes of mental illness, sexual violence, and apparent pedophilia, and I won't forget it anytime soon.  Leder, who also was behind the awful 1976 giant monster spoof/ripoff movie "A*P*E", also made a sequel to "I Dismember Mama" in 1994 called "Killing Obsession", but as yet I haven't seen it, and I can't imagine how this doomy little movie could be improved upon. Forget the lack of gore; this is about as lurid, affecting, and engrossing that an exploitation film can get.


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Saturday, 5 March 2016

Movie Review: Twilight

Title: Twilight
Based On: Stephanie Meyer's - Twilight
Running Time: 122 minutes
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke

'Bella Swan has always been a little bit different. Never one to run with the crowd, Bella never cared about fitting in with the trendy, plastic girls at her Phoenix, Arizona high school. When her mother remarried and Bella chooses to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she didn't expect much of anything to change. But things do change when she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen. For Edward is nothing like any boy she's ever met.

He's nothing like anyone she's ever met, period. He's intelligent and witty, and he seems to see straight into her soul. In no time at all, they are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance - unorthodox because Edward really isn't like the other boys. He can run faster than a mountain lion. He can stop a moving car with his bare hands. Oh, and he hasn't aged since 1918. Like all vampires, he's immortal. That's right - vampire. But he doesn't have fangs - that's just in the movies. And he doesn't drink human blood, though Edward and his family are unique among vampires in that lifestyle choice.

To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for - a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. Somehow or other, they will have to manage their unmanageable love. But when unexpected visitors come to town and realize that there is a human among them Edward must fight to save Bella? A modern, visual, and visceral Romeo and Juliet story of the ultimate forbidden love affair - between vampire and mortal.'

There are a good few things that I love about this movie and then one or two things that I had problems with.

One of the main things that I loved about this movie is how the kept the awkward father-daughter relationship between Charlie and Bella. Charlie's character was one that I did laugh at so many times in the movie. And no matter how many times I watch it, I will always laugh at some of his lines. Billy Burke did a great job at playing Bella's over protective father.

All of Bella's friends gave some great comic relief in the movie. All the way from her first day at school to the Prom. I couldn't help but laugh at the way Mike tries to flirt with her and the way the girls talk about Edward Cullen and ask Bella for advice with dresses and the boys.

The soundtrack to the movie was absolutely beautiful. It's just breathtaking. The mix of the classical music in the film with some more recent music. It all just fit together and slotted into the scenes quite perfectly.

The flashbacks in the movie was both really useful and really well made. The fact that they used a sepia tone for them reinstated the fact that it was looking back. It was really nice to see the legends between the werewolves and the vampires and to see the way that Edward was turned into a vampire. Even though it wasn't needed, I thought it was really nice to watch and just gave the movie something a little more.

I'll be honest though, some of the acting did seem a little stiff. I get that the characters like Edward and Bella were supposed to be quite awkward, even with each other but it still felt very static. It wasn't the whole way through the movie, there was just the odd scene where it did seem more awkward than I thought it would be. Some of the camera angles in the movie were a little bit odd and it did seem like the camera was shaking a bit as well.

But other than those two small points, I did love the movie. It was really enjoyable to watch and the scenery in it was quite beautiful in some of the scenes. I would be more than happy to keep watching this movie.

Rating: ★1/2
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March 30, 2005

Further Proof

I have in a previous post pointed out that generally speaking a majority of kentuckians seem to not know how to drive. That they must get their licenses from the express lane at Wal*Mart.
I Have further proof.
The other day when I got to work, there was a heap of junk of a car backed into a parking space with its drivers side wheels over the line crowding into my favorite parking space. Where I work we share a parking lot with a fitness center so sometimes I don't get "my" space. I was not going to lose my space because some idiot didn't know how to park, so I squeezed my little truck into "my" space. I'll admit that it was a bit of a job to get out without hitting the heap with my door, but I got out with a few inches to spare and didn't give it a second thought.
About an hour later this guy who was about half my size came stomping into my place of business demanding to know who owned a truck in the parking lot that fit the description of my little beauty to a T. I said it was mine and asked how I could help. He started in with "with all the open parking spaces, why did you park so close that I can't get in my car." (I've left out the expletives and other euphemisms for my readers with better manners). He wanted me to come outside to show me he couldn't get into his car. My boss followed to make sure this guy wasn't going to attack or something like that (he seemed that angry that he might do something rash). I offered to pull my truck forward so he could get in. He said that would be great (expletives deleted again). When I squeezed myself back into my truck, he layed it all on again about how stupid I was. I pulled my truck forward and let him get into his car and drive off. I wasn't about to stoop to his level by pointing out to him that if he had learned how to park in drivers ed, instead of Joe Schmoe's Driver's License for a Dollar Mart of Kentuckiana Inc., I wouldn't have apparently ruined his day to the point of going through those motions.
I hope he keeps going to the fitness center tho. He wasn't as big as I am, but he was rather flabby. And I don't think he's been working out long enough to have "'Roid Rage" yet from pumping all that iron and taking all those steroids.
I didn't let that episode ruin my day, I was happy in the knowledge that his license plate stated he was a kentuckian. That explained it all.
* again if you are a kentuckian reading this you are probably a friend or family member and therefore you are exempt from these tirades.


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Guernsey heading to European Touch Championships

Guernsey will be one of 16 nations taking part in this weekend’s European Touch Championships.

The biennial event, which is the biggest touch competition in Europe, will see 52 teams competing over four days at the University of Swansea fields. Guernsey has been drawn in pool C alongside hosts Wales, Jersey and Italy.

‘We’re taking a very different team to the team we took to the Euros in 2012 with only four from that side going to Swansea and another seven players who have never played at international level before,’ said Guernsey Touch player coach Ollie Ward.

‘We’ve lost some very strong players but in turn have welcomed back others who have taken a break from competing at that level and their experience will be invaluable. Hopefully those newer players will learn an enormous amount from being at the tournament which will complement what they have learnt in training and mean they will become key players who we can build future island teams around.’

The 15-strong team leave Guernsey on Wednesday with the pool stages of the competition taking place on Thursday. The top two from each pool will go through to a cup competition with the remaining teams going into a seeding tournament. Semi-finals and finals will take place on Sunday.

‘We’re aiming to finish ahead of Italy and we know that Wales, who will almost certainly be a contender for the finals, will top our group so the competition will really be Jersey. We played them in the inter-insular and we know they are strong but the team has been working really hard and so it will be all to play for on the day,’ said Ward.

Justeen Baker will captain the team with Richard Perrio as vice-captain. New caps go to Iain Thomson, Sam Ward, Fae Clerey, Laura Mitchell, Lucy Holden, Harry Burns and Annie Paul.

At 15, Burns and Paul will become the youngest players to ever represent Guernsey at an international touch tournament. Matt Brehaut, Aaron Le Masurier, Dominic Page, Mark Bristowe and Marie Curutchet make up the remainder of the team with Curutchet nominated by her team mates to be the Guernsey flagbearer.

Debbie Paul travels with the KPMG-sponsored team as manager, Alex Clark as coach and James Hooker as physio with Rebekah Fant providing additional support.

‘The team has put in hours and hours of training and are as prepared as they can be. It’s a huge honour to represent your island at an international tournament and I hope they enjoy the experience, play to their best of their ability and do Guernsey proud,’ said Guernsey Touch chair Katrina Bray.


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If you change the direction tabs title according to your customization Follow below steps :

Step 1 Go to Add or Edit Map scroll down to ‘Tabs Settings’ section.
Step 2 Enable ‘Display Directions Tab’ inside the ‘Display tabs’.
Step 3Change the ‘Direction Tab Title’ as you want to display.

Map Direction Title
Step 4Then click Save Map and open it in browser.

Map Title

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  • Nobleman Daltain

    Nobleman Daltain is a Krytan caravan master transferring goods to different areas of Kryta. A...

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Copyright Details
License: Fair use
Source: Guild wars game screen capture
GuildWars Wikia notes: This is a screenshot of the game Guild Wars, and the copyright for it is held by the company that developed the game. The use of the image qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law, as such display does not significantly impede the right of the copyright holder to sell the copyrighted material, is not being used to generate profit in this context, and presents ideas that cannot be exhibited otherwise.

This image may be freely used on user pages.

If you think this image is incorrectly licensed you may discuss this on the image's talk page.

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  • Rei Ming

    Location: In Jaya Bluffs, just outside of Seitung Harbor. Collecting: 3 Silver Crimson Skull Coins

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Thursday, 30 October 2003

DEF LEPPARD Guitarist: "I Actually Don’t Like Hard Rock Music!"
See also: Vivian Campbell interview

Wednesday, 29 October 2003

Music piracy forces top guitarist onto the streets
Queen guitarist Brian May left without a pot to p*ss in

How very odd!
Auerswald-instruments: Did you ever wonder where Prince got that Symbol guitar from? A fascinating selection of innovative space-aged instruments.

I notice that there is a Chico Hablas model. All that I know about Chico Hablas is that he played guitar on certain songs by swiss funsters Yello; in fact his laid back but Oh So Cool solo on "Desire" on the album "Stella" has got to be one of my favourite guitar solos ever. Other than that I know nothing about the man. If anyone has any more information on Chico Hablas, please get in touch!

Tuesday, 28 October 2003

The Nu-Metal Guide: Handy hints on how to form your own Nu-Metal band, become the next "Slipknot", etc...
The Humane Guitarist: dedicated to the technique and health of the classical guitarist.
The Oud Home Page: all about this 11-stringed fretless arabian lute.
Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's learning curve continues
Guitar factory could open in Wayne County: A Huntington man who makes a uniquely shaped guitar is proposing to open a manufacturing facility in Wayne County. Leo Burrell, retired pastor of Norwood Free Methodist Church, has invented and sells what he calls "the only truly ergonomic guitar." The guitar is constructed at an angle and without internal bracing to curve around the musician’s body. It was patented three years ago. Burrell also invented a twisted neck guitar that was patented in 1985.

See also: - these guitars are freaky! Visually, they could possibly be considered acoustic equivalents of Brian Eastwood's Bender Distortocaster!

Monday, 27 October 2003

Playing guitar a weighty decision: Eduardo Niebla might have become the King of the Accordion - instead, he has been dubbed The King of Latin Guitar.
Oppressive work spurred guitarist on: John McLaughlin speaks about his career and his new album "Thieves & Poets".

Tuesday, 21 October 2003

Kiss guitar hero recovering from shooting - NME.COM
Julian CopeI don't know if he celebrates such things, but Happy Birthday anyway to the Arch-Drude himself, Julian Cope, who is 46 years old today.

Actually, I'm going to see his "Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day" show in London at the end of the month, which should be interesting!
'Scuse me while I eat my pie! JIMI HENDRIX biopic in the works!

Monday, 20 October 2003

The Guitar Hanger - Rock & Roll Museum featuring guitars owned by David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Ian Hunter, Carlos Santana, Blue Oyster Cult, and others.

Friday, 17 October 2003

V-Amp Guitar Processor From Behringer
A ukulele orchestra is claiming that Kate Bush has banned them from recording a cover version of her hit song Wuthering Heights. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, who claim that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation as long as they are played on the ukulele, have already become a big hit on BBC Radio 2 and had hoped to release the song on their new CD. The track has now been replaced by a Miss Dynamite cover.
Kiss guitarist shot outside club
Former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick has been shot in the leg and grazed by a bullet to the head outside a West Hollywood nightclub. More...

Wednesday, 15 October 2003

Martin guitars hit 1 million on high note - in January 2004, the one-millionth Martin will make its debut at the annual NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.

Tuesday, 14 October 2003

McCartney Guitar up for auction live on TV - it's one of his first guitars apparently. I doubt if it's any of his famous instruments such as one of the Hofner violin basses.
Argghhh! It's Cliff!Blinkin' flip! Today's the 63rd birthday of Sir Cliff Richard, and the alarming thing is that he's still going strong.

Never mind, at least his old backing band did well too... one of the most famous guitar groups ever: The Shadows

Monday, 13 October 2003

The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery - some fantastic stuff in the galleries here. Happy browsing!
The votes are still coming in for our Stratocaster Poll with "boring" in the lead (only just), I'm afraid...

Sunday, 12 October 2003

Rick Parfitt from Status QuoHappy Birthday to the master of no-nonsense twelve-bar boogie rhythm guitar, Mr Rick Parfitt, who is 55 years old today.

See also:
Roadhouse Replicas - faithful replicas of the now legendary Status Quo Telecasters

Saturday, 11 October 2003

Friday, 10 October 2003

Stratocaster bashing - the poll.
Vote now!
Midge: Where's my guitar?Happy Birthday to Midge Ure who is 50 years old today. As well as being successful in his own right as a solo artist, and famously fronting the post-John Foxx line-up of Ultravox, Midge has also played guitar for bands such as Slik, the Rich Kids, and Thin Lizzy.

Sorry, by the way, that I couldn't find a decent photo of Midge with a guitar. Oh, and if I remember rightly, he never liked Strats either.
For Mac users: Guitar Shed 1.0.1
Guitar Shed is a set of tools for guitarists, bassists, and many other musicians. Includes an extensive tuner, with customizable alternative tunings, a chord library, tablature organizer, jam machine, song jammer - which lets you slow your songs down for practice, as well as loop sections continuously for simple learning.
Guitar showdown with G3 - Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen at Reno.

Thursday, 9 October 2003

If anyone out there would like to take issue with my claim that Stratocasters are boring, then when you communicate would you please make a reasoned carefully-thought-out argument, and do not simply resort to name-calling or extremely baffling and childishly immature exclamations of "Are you gay?" in the comments.

Whatever one's sexual orientation has to do with a person's preferences for certain guitars, I just cannot fathom.

If you've got something to say - a point to get across - then just say it. But really, there is no need to resort to abuse just because someone else thinks a little differently to you.

As to Stratocasters, well, I used one for over 10 years. It was a great guitar, but the best thing I ever did was to get rid of it and try something different!

Wednesday, 8 October 2003

The bass guitar on which Smiths bass player Andy Rourke played on all the band’s records is being sold.

The 20-year-old Yamaha bb200 is currently listed on ebay for a starting bid of USD$2,400 (approximately £1,444).

According to the item description, Rourke bought the bass guitar in 1983 and subsequently used it on all the Smiths recorded output, as well as on session work for artists including The Pretenders, Badly Drawn Boy and Sinead O'Connor. It also appeared on the gatefold cover of the Smiths’ 1984 rarities compilation ‘Hatful Of Hollow’.

The bass, which comes in its original case with a letter from Rourke, is up for bids until 2pm on Friday (October 10). To bid, click here.
EBay air guitar gets bid of £25,000
Ha! There's always some joker on eBay who thinks that it is the height of wit to offer for sale an "air guitar" ... as if no-one had ever thought of that "joke" before. It's absolutely pointless. Well, now the joke's on the latest air guitar selling prankster - just think of the fees he's going to have to pay eBay! Serves the stupid bastard right.
Pick an investment: Collectors see electric returns from playing guitar market  The Seattle Times - Business & Technology

Friday, 3 October 2003

The Fender Discussion Page - I must admit that I'm vaguely interested, but have decided that I am very much an ex-Fender user (other than my Jazz Bass, that is). I just don't see the point in playing a Strat or a Tele anymore because everyone else plays them. The word "boring" springs to mind, especially where the Stratocaster is concerned.

"Oh, but you've assembled a couple of Fender-style projects yourself..." you may well say. This is true; let's face it building a Strat-type guitar from parts has to be the easiest because the parts are so easily available and you can mix and match to your heart's content. So, yeah, I have put together a couple of Strat type guitars, and a Tele style guitar too, but at least I tried to inject a bit of originality into them (especially the Tele!).

However, for those of you who can't get enough of the Fender Stratocaster, there's this site: All Things Strat
The Blues Blog

Thursday, 2 October 2003

Present at the creation: The Electric Guitar - a recommended site for all of you who are interested in the history of the solid body electric guitar.
Mike RutherfordWe have another guitarist birthday today, namely a Mr Mike Rutherford, of Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics fame, who is 53 years old today.

Click here for a nice pic of one of his wacky doubleneck guitars, this one being a twelve-string guitar and six-string bass pairing.

Click here to find out more about his more celebrated Shergold doubleneck instruments.
Sting, and his mug of cocoaRaise a glass - or a mug of cocoa if you will - in honour of Sting who is celebrating his 52nd birthday today.

At last, that seems to be a believable age for the ex-Police frontman. I recall that years back he must have stayed at age 32 for at least a decade.

Wednesday, 1 October 2003

Strat Central - Fender Stratocasters galore! A whole website devoted to the World's most popular (and arguably most boring) guitar.
How about these Kona Walkingstick Basses? They must certainly be a lot less ungainly than a standard upright.

Related Posts with Thumbnails


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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Rain and Neon

One of the virtues of oil paint is that you can paint in a drizzle or a downpour. Don’t even think of trying it in watercolor. In 100 percent humidity, watercolor washes won't dry.

Here's the setup I was using for a painting of a storefront scene. The umbrella was a cheap beach umbrella that came with a plastic clamp. It attached to the top of the pochade box. It kept the worst of the water off the painting, but instead an icy river flowed down my neck.

It poured for six hours with no let-up. You can see the painting here in its lay-in stage, drawn in loosely with a bristle brush using burnt sienna thinned with turpentine.

It was fun painting the puddles, but I had a devil of a time with the neon drug store sign, as you can see in the final painting. The neon is an intensely saturated color. But it’s also high in value. It’s impossible to capture in both the intense chroma and the high value in the same single paint mixture.

If you go for the bright red chroma, the value or tone of the paint goes lower, and if you try to capture the lightness, you can’t also suggest the color. Analyzing the photo now after the fact, I suppose the trick would have been to show the bright halo of intensely saturated color directly adjacent to the near-white neon tubes.

Mark Heng said...

I did a painting last year with the same value/intensity problem with neon. You're right, it's the stuff immediately illuminated by the light source, including the atmosphere which creates a halo that's saturated. I can't believe your output- You seem to do more in a week than I get done in a month!!!

Eric Orchard said...

It's a great painting! Reading about this is making outdoor painting romantic again.

Michael Dooney said...

I know what you're saying. I usually use acrylics so things work differently so take this for what it's worth...I've had some success with simulating the neon glow by 1-paint the tube color-let it dry 2-paint the inner tube glow nearly pure white and let it dry, like I said with acrylics this is easier ;) 3-glaze over the white with the sign color.
Oh man, I just realized that I'm telling James Gurney how to paint something...ha, forget I said anything ;)

These posts are absolutely incredible. I love your blog. That painting is beautiful. You truly braved it for that piece. What a payoff. It is so great to hear your thoughts on yopur own process. Its great.

tlc illustration said...

I am amazed and impressed by your dedication (and output!). 'Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow'

~V said...

As always I find your work utterly breathtaking, emotive, and descriptive in a way that only the best story teller could provide. You have written yet another beautiful poem about a moment and place captured in time, inscribed by brush. Thank you for being my inspiration, as an art student I find your work a motivation to keep working around the problems I find in my own approach, and gain further insight through your words and reflections.
Good day, and safe travels~

Jafabrit said...

I love how you have captured the puddles.

Paolo Rivera said...

Ah yes, I call this the "light saber effect" whenever I have to paint it. I usually just go for pure white paint (or the white of the paper) and paint the color around. Sometimes I even lightly glaze the white with the complimentary color for added contrast.

Of course, it's all much harder to do in oil, in the field, in the rain. That's determination. Nice work.

Cat said...

I agree with jafabrit. The puddles are great!

Brine Blank said...

Mr. Gurney,
Several years ago (not sure how many) I came across one of your books and was blown away. I then lost track. Happily I stumbled across your blog via another site a couple of weeks ago...great information that acts as reinforcement for what I've previously been teaching as well as super tips and techniques that are new and favorite of the last bit is how sometimes the students complain about 'conditions' not being perfect (as if they ever are) to complete or create work...your painting in the rain and on-site work in the frigid tundra helps to put such things in perspective...again, you are truly a master!!!

K_tigress said...

Great stuff as usual.
When there's a will theres a way.

But any ways the rain gives me a great idea for a painting project for my self.
since you mention that there would be a problem making rain in water colour, it would be a good time to multi medium as in, add a bit of coloured pencil to the mix.

As for the neon sign problem, Its a good idea using pure bold colour like with one the posters said about the acrylic and or multi medium. That's if your into that thing.

Frank Gardner said...

Always great to see your plein air work James. I would have tried to get the color on that sign to pop like this. Since each color can look different by the colors next to it I would have darkened and dulled the surrounding color, even back to the buildings and tree. I'd with some complimentary greens and purples to get those reds and yellow in the center of the tubes to vibrate. Then with the intensely saturated color near the tubes like you said.
I've painted in the rain as well, but without the umbrella. It actually went better then I thought it would. Amazing how oil and water just don't mix.

christy said...

awesome work! you may be able to get much closer to the chroma you want if you use the right high chroma paints.. there's an art forum you might be interested in largely dedicted to this topic.

James Gurney said...

Thanks, everybody for all your great ideas about painting neon! This is why I love the blog conversation--I learn so much from my brother (and sister) brushes. I can't wait to try out some of your tips.

Patrick said...

Man...That's some killer drawing skills you have there! :)

Do you just eyeball the perspective, or did you have to plan it out for this one?


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Tuesday, 6 August 2013

U.S.: Obama must pardon B. Manning

By using the Espionage Act to punish Bradley Manning, the Obama administration has shown how far it will go to intimidate leakers. His sentencing is a stain on the president's legacy and on America's global reputation.

Last Tuesday, a US military judge convicted Bradley Manning of espionage, leaving him facing a lengthy jail term despite clearing him on the most serious charge that he aided the enemy. It was never an issue whether Bradley Manning violated US law. Manning pleaded guilty to 10 charges at the beginning of his military trial. The maximum sentence for those charges was 20 years in prison -- an intolerable sentence, but unlikely to be the extent of his punishment.

That punishment could now be a 136-year prison sentence. Prosecutors have brought in the big guns -- and invoked the Espionage Act, which was passed in 1917 in reaction to fears of German spies and saboteurs.

It is political despotism to use this act in a trial that has to do with neither espionage nor sabotage. It means the defense can no longer argue that the defendant harmed no one, that he acted in the public interest. It deprives Manning of the only basis to justify his actions and the opportunity to avoid a guilty verdict.

This is why the appropriate reaction to this verdict would be to reverse it. It would be overzealous, both from a legal and political standpoint, to pass judgment on Manning as a warning to other possible politically motivated offenders. The 25-year-old soldier, a man who is unconvincing as a heroic figure and burdened with complexes, is the most recent casualty in a hysterically prolonged "war on terror."

The Manning trial isn't the first instance in which the United States under President Barack Obama has demonstrated its willingness to do everything it takes to prevent the spread of unwelcome truths. Former President Richard Nixon tried to use the Espionage Act to put the leaker of the Pentagon Papers -- about the planning of the Vietnam War -- behind bars. With a guilty verdict against Manning, Obama has now prevailed where Nixon failed.

This injustice -- more than his withdrawal from two wars, and more than his largely futile struggle to make the United States into a more socially equitable country -- will define Obama's presidency in the long term.

World media published the flood of data Manning disseminated through the Wikileaks whistleblowing website. Therefore, it is in interest of the media worldwide that future sources are not intimidated, that this verdict not be upheld. This should also be in Obama's interest. The reputation of the United States is at stake, along with its credibility as a country where freedom also means confrontation with the truth.

Leaks are necessary for the fight against abuses of power. Manning's leaks uncovered war crimes, albeit ones that have remained unpunished. His leaks revealed, at an early juncture, the disorientation of the US's Afghanistan operations. And the cables from US embassies, far from being high-level gossip, showed how eagerly those in power deceived their own people.

Obama must pardon Manning so that more whistleblowers do not find themselves compelled to seek refuge in the even darker realm of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Political lawbreakers like Nixon and Iran-Contra conspirators like former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane were pardoned. After all, there's honor among thieves.
Now it's also time to pardon someone willing to call a thief a thief.

By Guylain Gustave Moke
Political Analyst/Writer
Investigative Journalist
World Affairs Analyst

Photo-Credit: Reuters-Bradley Manning entering the Court, last Tuesday.


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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

gvSIG CE code sprint summary

The first gvSIG CE Code sprint took place from Monday October 15th to Friday October 19th 2012 in Munich. 100% of the cost of this code sprint have been covered by ArchIV, Benjamin Ducke, CSGIS, Cartolab and It has been a very intensive and productive week with these participants:

Benjamin Ducke <benducke[at]>
Fernando González <fernando.gonzalez[at]>
Ruth Schönbuchner <ruth.schoenbuchner[at]>
Johannes Valenta <office[at]>
Jose Canalejo <jose.canalejo[at]>
Víctor González <victor.gonzalez[at]>
Francisco Puga <fpuga[at]>

Benjamin Ducke worked on the integration of GRASS GIS in SEXTANTE 1.0 and managed the gvSIG CE release plan. The next release will be a beta release for gvSIG CE 1.0. We plan to release the first beta version of gvSIG CE 1.0 in November 2012 and the final version 1.0 before the end of that year. It will feature many bug fixes, user interface improvements, and some new/updated extensions (most importantly, a new version of SEXTANTE, OpenCAD and NavTable).

Fernando and Victor Gonzalez were examining a possible Integration of Geotools in gvSIG CE. This is a very important task for gvSIG CE because it will improve hugely the development of gvSIG CE. At this point we would like to say a big thank you! They have invested several days on this work without any sponsor. The first results allow us to estimate a roadmap and evaluate next steps. Surely more investigation and testing will be needed.

Francisco Puga helped us accomplishing the best integration of OpenCadTools and Navtable in gvSIG CE and he also discussed the integration of geotools into the official gvSIG as this task could be also important for the gvSIG development.

Ruth Schönbuchner, Johannes Valenta and José Canalejo were working on updating the project documentation. The website has been updated, a gvSIG CE Quickstart based on OADE Quickstart has been put online. An example project with sample data will be part of the next CE 1.0.

The code sprint is a great opportunity to make decisions about the future of the project. It has been a very good experience for all of us. We are looking forward to the next code sprint! If you like to discuss next steps of the project we would like to hear from you (e.g. add a location for the next code sprint: Toulouse, Girona, Berlin, ?). Join our community list or follow us at twitter.

We're grateful to all the developers for their awesome engagement! See you soon and thank you very much to all participants!

The gvSIG CE Team

  1. Great work guys, and remember if you need fixes in geotools to make this easier as you go to talk to the GeoTools team.

    As an example some of your CoordinateReferenceSystem adapting utility methods can go into the CRS class, or DataStore adapting code into DataUtilities.

    These general facade classes are there to assist "downstream" projects with integration.

    Finally please be aware of my current work on FeatureCollection - it is an API change to clear out the deprecate methods.

  2. Hi,

    Thanks a lot for the tips and the help. There is still a lot of work to do with the refactoring and more utility stuff may appear. But once the result is more stable and we get a better view of the whole picture, we will try to contribute whatever we can to GeoTools. That is one of the key points of this work, definitely.

    Also, we will take a closer look into the FeatureCollection API and, if we have any further doubt or suggestion, we will ask on the mailing lists. Thanks again!


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Friday, February 18, 2011

My two favorites so far!

 I am so proud to show you pictures of these 2 cakes.  The first I did for a cool 5 year old, Peyton.  It was so awesome to see all of the kids faces as they looked at and admired the cake.  And I've already received 2 orders for this one for later in the year.

The second one I did last weekend for a special 5 year old, Abigail.  It was a LATE night of decorating and I was at first not sure how it was going to turn out but as the night went on and the cake came was as though I was creating a masterpiece.  I hope you enjoy it too!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

We have our winners!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to all who played the Valentine's Day contest.

The winner's are:

Brittany Bonta
Amy Adkins
Brenda Carr
Lorrie Brennan

Thanks for's fun to see everyone's answers.  Believe it or not, my favorite cake is Funfetti...that's right Pillsbury boxed cake with canned icing!!!!

Ladies - I will get your cupcakes to you...that's right Brittany...they are coming to you in Texas!


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© Gwen Dubeau - All Rights Reserved

My latest books now available for purchase, please see links below. Thank you for your interest and enjoy your visit.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Dark Day Fused

Light and dark, together they twist, mix and brew.
Rain does fall, shiver delivered to the deepest bone.

Alone in this darkness, I feel at home.
A candle could burn, moments dash as they pass.

Deeper into the darkness I dwell. I feel you near,
you nestle and stare.

Forever you care and tear at the strings of my heart,
a puppet I am, no pain, no worry, no descending tears.

I love you I claim, I don't try to own you or change you.
You are too strong for that now.

You give me a glimmer, just a little shimmer, of hope.
My love brims all the way to rim, I let go of all fear.

  1. not sure how to feel about this one...if they are giving you a glimmer just to keep you on the puppet strings or if their love is that much it only takes a bit...

  2. as they say in Hunger Gamer hope is more important than fear

    Fancy HOV Ridin’

  3. I am with Brian on this one...very mixed in feeling, but well done

  4. Another vote for not being quite sure what to make of this, but I love the internal rhymes; shiver delivered etc

  5. Hi Gwen, No mystery here - your last line says it all: "My love brims all the way to rim, I let go of all fear." Great stuff! With Best Wishes Scott www.scotthastie.com

  6. Gwen, I agree the last line is superb. It is all about letting go of fear.

  7. That seems to me to be words of acceptance of what is letting go of possession of self a most beautiful light dark place to be. Lovely words friend.

  8. very spiritual; the writing of hope and acceptance. thank you for sharing.


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Tomato - Mr T. Mato

Botanical name: Solanum lycopersicumTomato Mr T tag

Mr T. Mato is one cool Tomato producing large tasty rounded fruit with attitude.

Fruits are produced in abundance on vigorous plants which require staking.

The fruits are juicy and full of flavour and are produced in high yields.

These tomatoes are perfect for salads, cooking and delicious eaten fresh.

Plant 50cm apart.

Plant in full sun.

Requires staking.

Fertilise every month with an organic fertiliser.Mr T. Tomato

Go to top


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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Stay Tuned...

Busy with work and stuff, plus the Italy/Spain game goes today, so no time to update this afternoon either...check back Sunday night, and if nothing, Monday FOR SURE! Thanks!

QUICK HITS: Hossa going UFA, Jagr expected to take discount to re-sign in NYR, One of Rolston/Demitra will be resigned, the other, let go to UFA.

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Random Bits

Well, it was a lovely day today here in Ory-gun. After our monthly pilgrimage to the family therapist, The Husband went to work and I picked up the kids from Grandma & Grandpa's. I stopped at the park on the way home-

I could have stayed outside all day! Except that a certain little person had to pee and there was no bathroom...
I've been to the Dr., had some labs, and got a birth control pill sample. The labs say me iron be low, so I've been on an iron supplement. I feel a thousand times better than I have in so long. How odd that it turned out to be that simple. Hopefully the pills will hand me a victory over Aunt Flo, thus ending the plummeting iron levels.
I'm now 4 months into my stay-at-home-mom-adventure. We now officially have *no money*. We're now on a (tight! can't breathe!) budget, being managed by me. I am now the Receipt Commando. Everything is tracked. We haven't eaten out in weeks. This is not all bad... it's something we should have started long ago, but The Husband is not budget minded. He isn't used to having to pay attention to what's in the bank. However, actually going in the hole for the first time ever (I didn't think an irishman could get any whiter, but have now been proven wrong) finally seems to have dusted off the cobwebs in that area of his brain. The bonus is that now that he has to hand over all his receipts, he no longer has 9,000 of them in his wallet. From 6 months ago.
I've changed some services- dropped the DirecTV movie channels, pared down our home phone service package and dropped voicemail (Welcome back, O Crappy Hard to Understand Answering Machine). I am trying to find ways to keep some services that are important to me, such as the lovely lady that cleans my house on Mondays, and the personal trainer at the gym that keeps my fat at bay. Might seem frivolous on the surface, I guess, but I know how I am about going to the gym on my own accord, and having the floors mopped every week keeps my sanity from going around the bend. Especially since my son still eats things off the floor. *On a side note, he was eating a bag of cheerios at the nature park when he dropped one in a mud puddle. And I mean, a puddle *in the mud*. That he'd just been stomping in, stirring up said mud. He let if float in there for a couple of minutes before he plucked it out and ate it before I could stop him.
I'm totally hooked on Holmes on Homes. I record it on the DVR every day and watch it in the afternoon, before I start dinner. My daughter usually watches it with me. She has informed me that she 'only likes the ones where they fix kitchens'. And recently asked me if we had in floor heating in our kitchen. Holmes says 'crap' a lot... so one of these days she'll roll out a 'what a piece of crap!'. Probably while we're at my in-laws.
Well, time to go pretend that I know Yoga and do some stretches before I get in bed and not sleep.

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