• Leading Knights putting finishing touches to summer bid
• Glazers continue to say Man United is not for sale

The wealthy group of Manchester United fans known as the Red Knights are expected to finalise their proposal to make an offer for the club by the end of this week, with an approach expected at the end of the season.

The leading figures behind the audacious plan to buy out the Glazer family, including the Goldman Sachs chief economist, Jim O'Neill, Freshfields partner Mark Rawlinson and Wace Marshall hedge fund co-founder Paul Marshall, met advisers in London today to discuss their plan.

The investment bank Nomura, appointed on 12 March, has contacted the 40 or so individuals who have signalled a desire to become involved in the bid and is understood to be in a position to fashion a final draft of its scheme.

The bank's team is led by Guy Dawson and Andrew McNaught, who advised the Manchester United board in 2005 as it unsuccessfully attempted to repel the initial approach by the Glazers.

The final structure has yet to be decided but it is expected that the group will opt to retain the £509m bond that was a significant factor in rallying fans to protest against the Glazers' financial model. The bond prospectus showed that the Glazers could take up to £127m out of the club in the next year alone to pay the £202m hedge fund loans that are secured against their shareholding in Manchester United.

Those close to the Red Knights' plans have been at pains to insist that the proposal is not viewed as a money-making scheme. It is likely that the investors will be guaranteed a modest annual return but face restrictions on when and how they can sell their stakes. The model is expected to envisage a greater share of the club being transferred to a wider base of supporters over time, with guaranteed representation on the board.

The Manchester United Supporters Trust, the prime mover behind the Old Trafford green and gold protests, now has more than 151,000 members. It has been involved in the discussions and would co-ordinate any offer made to the wider fanbase to become involved.

"The reports of the ongoing meetings are going to encourage supporters because the vast majority want to see a change of ownership," the chief executive, Duncan Drasdo, said. "They want to see these plans develop. This is a chance for supporters to have an opportunity to have a real stake in the club."

The club's owners recently announced they would freeze season ticket prizes for next season, following a rise of around 50% since they took over, which MUST interpreted as a sign that its pressure was having an effect.

The Glazers continue to say the club is not for sale. Any bid is unlikely to be put forward until the close season, with no public comment expected until then. The group, in its last public statement, said it did not want to distract from events on the pitch during the title run-in.

The Second Annual Streamy Awards, held Sunday night at Downtown LA's Orpheum Theater, confirmed the establishment of web television as part of Hollywood's ecosystem.  The awards ceremony included nods to traditional entertainment awards shows with a rumored streaker, gift bags, a formal dress code and the requisite running a half hour past schedule.  David Faustino appeared later on the awards podium fully or partially nude (difficult to tell from the press room).

While some in the blogosphere wished for a more serious tone and more of a technical polish, the show itself succeeded in achieving recognition for this relatively new entertainment medium. The DIY, viral format and style has spread to broadcast television. "Some of the technologies used in web television are now being used in broadcast television production," said Tim Street, creator of French Maid TV, before departing to Las Vegas for his five panels at NAB. 

As no event in Downtown LA, would be complete without the ubiquitous food truck, the WorldFare double-decker BusTaraunt made an appearance outside the Orpheum before the crowd adjourned to the afterparty at Cicada.

Full list of winners below.

Visionary Award: Chad Hurley (Co-founder & CEO, YouTube) The Streamy Visionary Award honors leaders and innovators who have made a significant contribution to the digital entertainment community.

Audience Choice Award: Ten finalists received the most public submissions during the Streamy Awards’ official submissions period from December 15, 2009 through January 18, 2010. The winner was determined by a public vote. (One vote allowed per day per person).

Overall Series Best Comedy Web Series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis Best Drama Web Series The Bannen Way Best Hosted Web Series Diggnation Best Reality or Documentary Web Series The Secret Life of Scientists Best News or Politics Web Series Auto-Tune the News Best Foreign Web Series OzGirl Best New Web Series Odd Jobs Best Companion Web Series The Office: Subtle Sexuality Best Animated Web Series How It Should Have Ended Best Branded Entertainment Web Series Back on Topps (Topps, Dick’s Sporting Goods)` Best Experimental Web Series Auto-Tune the News Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series Agents of Cracked Directing Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series The Guild (Sean Becker) Best Directing for a Drama Web Series The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren) Writing Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series Wainy Days (David Wain) Best Writing for a Drama Web Series Compulsions (Bernie Su)

Performance Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series Zach Galifianakis — (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis) Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series Felicia Day — (The Guild) Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series Mark Gantt — (The Bannen Way) Best Female Actor in a Drama Web Series Rachael Hip-Flores — (Anyone But Me) Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series Easy to Assemble (Illeana Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak) Best Guest Star in a Web Series “Weird Al” Yankovic — (Know Your Meme) Best Web Series Host Zadi Diaz — (Epic Fu) Best Vlogger Shane Dawson — (ShaneDawsonTV) Craft Awards Best Editing in a Web Series The Bannen Way (Zack Arnold) Best Cinematography in a Web Series Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski) Best Art Direction in a Web Series Green Porno (Rick Gilbert) Best Sound Design in a Web Series Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan) Best Visual Effects in a Web Series Fear Clinic (Jason Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Onstad, Jason Knetge, Erik Porn, Ikuo Saito, David Dang) Best Animation in a Web Series theGoob (Magnus Jansson) Best Original Music in a Web Series Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory, Sarah Gregory) Best Live Production in a Web Series Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series Valemont Best Product Integration in a Web Series Easy to Assemble (IKEA) Best Mobile Experience in a Web Series Valemont

The winners of the 2010 Streamy Awards were announced in a ceremony in Los Angeles this evening. We’ve got the complete list of winners below.

The Streamys are awarded to web TV series by the International Academy of Web Television — they’re similar to the Oscars, Emmys or Grammys.

Crackle’s The Bannen Way (which we recently profiled) took away Best Drama Web Series, Best Directing for a Drama Web Series and Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series while Funny or Die’s Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis landed Best Comedy Web Series and Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series.

The Guild walked away with Best Female Actor and Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series. The Audience Choice Award went to Agents of Cracked, and Anyone But Me’s Rachel Hip-Flores won Best Female Actor in a Drama Web Series.

The ceremony was streamed live on the web, so Twitter users have been reacting in real-time to each reveal.

The consensus is that ceremony didn’t go swimmingly. It was marred with technical challenges, timing problems, and humor that just wasn’t funny, judging from the responses of Twitter users and a sometimes silent audience. The most common complaint was that the ceremony was filled to the brim with crude or sexist humor; many viewers felt that this was a setback for content makers who want to be taken seriously.

Did you watch the ceremony? Do you think it was appropriate, or do you think it was a misfire? And do you agree with the winners who were selected? Let us know in the comments.

Overall Series

Best Comedy Web Series: Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Nominees:

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Easy to Assemble

The Guild

The Legend of Neil

Wainy Days

Best Drama Web Series: The Bannen Way

Nominees:

Angel of Death

Compulsions

OzGirl

The Bannen Way

Valemont

Best Hosted Web Series: Diggnation

Nominees:

A Comicbook Orange

Diggnation

Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

Know Your Meme

The Totally Rad Show

Best News or Politics Web Series: Auto-Tune the News

Nominees:

Auto-Tune the News

Rocketboom

The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca

The Young Turks

VBS News

Best Animated Web Series: How It Should Have Ended

Nominees:

Eli’s Dirty jokes

Happy Tree Friends

Homestar Runner

How It Should Have Ended

Zero Punctuation

Audience Choice Award: Agents of Cracked

Nominees:

Agents of Cracked

Anyone But Me

Dorm Life: Semester 2

Elevator

Noob

Star-ving

The Guild

Legend of Neil

The Totally Rad Show

The Young Turks

Best Branded Entertainment Web Series: Back on Topps (Topps)

Nominees:

Back on Topps (Topps)

Brainstorm (Altoids)

Easy to Assemble (IKEA)

Parts Art (Lexus)

The Temp Life (Spherion)

Directing

Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series: The Guild (Sean Becker)

Nominees:

Blue Movies (Scott Brown)

Dorm Life: Semester 2 (Chris Smith, Mark Stewart Iverson)

James Gunn’s PG Porn (James Gunn)

The Guild (Sean Becker)

The Legend of Neil (Sandeep Parikh)

Best Directing for a Drama Web Series: The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren)

Nominees:

Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)

Compulsions (Bernie Su)

Girl Number 9 (Andrew Black, Lawrence Frank, Brent Friedman, Joshua Stern, Jacqueline Zambrano)

The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)

Young American Bodies (Joe Swanberg)

Writing

Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series: Wainy Days (David Wain)

Nominees:

Back on Topps (Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Eric Friedman, Matt Price)

Dorm Life (Chris Smith, Jordan Riggs, Jessie Gaskell, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Brian Singleton, Mark Stewart Iverson)

The Legend of Neil (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh)

The Guild (Felicia Day)

Wainy Days (David Wain)

Best Writing for a Drama Web Series: Compulsions (Bernie Su)

Nominees:

Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)

Compulsions (Bernie Su)

Girl Number 9 (James Moran)

The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)

Valemont (Christian Taylor)

Acting

Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series: Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis)

Nominees:

Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis)

Tony Hale (CTRL)

Amir Blumenfeld (Jake and Amir)

Sandeep Parikh (The Guild)

David Wain (Wainy Days)

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Felicia Day (The Guild)

Nominees:

Ileana Douglas (Easy to Assemble)

Justine Bateman (Easy to Assemble)

Joanna Cassidy (Sex Ed)

Felicia Day (The Guild)

Lisa Kudrow (Web Therapy)

Best Male Actor in a Drama Series: Mark Gantt (The Bannen Way)

Nominees:

Craig Frank (Compulsions)

Robert Englund (Fear Clinic)

Joe Absolom (Girl Number 9)

Mark Gantt (The Bannen Way)

Eric Balfour (Valemont)

Best Female Actor in a Drama Series: Rachel Hip-Flores (Anyone But Me)

Nominees:

Zoe Bell (Angel of Death)

Rachel Hip-Flores (Anyone But Me)

Tatyani Ali (Buppies)

Sophie Tilson (OzGirl)

Crystal Chappell (Venice)

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series: Easy to Assemble (Illeanna Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)

Nominees:

Black on Topps (Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar, Jason Nash, Janet Varney, Stephanie Courtney, Brian Huskey, Phil LaMarr)

Dorm Life (Nora Kirkpatrick, Hannah Pearl Utt, Anne Lane, Jessie Gaskell, Brian Singleton, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Jordan Riggs, Pancho Morris)

Easy to Assemble (Illeanna Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)

GOLD (Robert J. Brewer, James Paul Xavier, Nathan Mobley, Rick Robinson, David Nett, Gary Karp, Shannon Ivey, Alan Loayza, Shannon Nelson, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Schnaible)

The Guild (Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen)

Best Guest Star in a Web Series: “Weird Al” Yankovic (Know Your Meme)

Nominees:

Chris Hardwick (Back on Topps)

Nathan Fillion (PG Porn)

“Weird Al” Yankovic (Know Your Meme)

Wil Wheaton (The Guild)

Courtney Cox (Web Therapy)

Best Web Series Host: Zadi Diaz (Epic Fu)

Nominees:

Alex Albrecht (Diggnation)

Zadi Diaz (Epic Fu)

Kevin Pollak (Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show)

Kristyn Burtt (The Web.Files)

Michael Buckley (What the Buck?)

Best Vlogger: Shane Dawson (ShaneDawsonTV)

Nominees:

Brigitte Dale (Brigitte Dale)

iJustine (iJustine)

Philip DeFranco (sxePhil)

Shane Dawson (ShaneDawsonTV)

Shira Lazar (Shira Lazar)

Craft Awards

The Craft Awards were announced on April 8 in separate ceremony. The winners were as follows:

Best Reality or Documentary Web Series: The Secret Life of Scientists

Interview Project

Mommy XXX

RADAR

Streak to Win

The Secret Life of Scientists

Best Foreign Web Series: OzGirl

Flying Kebab

Girl Number 9

Noob

OzGirl

Riese

Best New Web Series: Odd Jobs

$5 Cover: Memphis

Girl Number 9

Odd Jobs

Old Friends

The Bannen Way

Best Companion Web Series: The Office: Subtle Sexuality

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage

Dexter: Early Cuts

Harper’s Globe

The Office: Subtle Sexuality

Weeds: University of Andy

Best Experimental Web Series: Auto-Tune the News

Auto-Tune the News

Green Porno

HBO Cube

INST MSGS

Level 26

Best Editing in a Web Series: The Bannen Way (Zach Arnold)

Nominees:

$5 Cover: Memphis (Nathan Black, Morgan Jon Fox, Josh Swain)

Angel of Death (Jochen Kunstler, Jacob Vaughan)

Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

I Kissed a Vampire (David Bekoff)

The Bannen Way (Zach Arnold)

Best Cinematography in a Web Series: Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

Nominees:

Angel of Death (Carl Herse)

Circle of Eight (Michael Lohmann)

LUMINA (XiaoSu Han, Andreas Thalhammer)

Mountain Man (Robert Lam)

Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

Best Art Direction in a Web Series: Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)

Nominees:

$99 Music Videos (Kit Pennebaker)

Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)

Mountain Man (Matt Enlow)

Riese (Chad Krowchuk)

Tiki Bar TV (Kim Bailey)

The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Sound Design in a Web Series: Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)

Nominees:

Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)

Mountain Man (Michael Miller)

Riese (Bill Mellow, Kevin Belen)

Rockville, CA (Seth Talley)

The Vetala (Randy Kiss)

Best Visual Effects in a Web Series: Fear Clinic (Jason M Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Pederson, David Dang)

Nominees:

Backyard FX (Erik Beck)

Fear Clinic (Jason M Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Pederson, David Dang)

Mordy Koots (Reece Sanders, Clayton Jacobson)

Safety Geeks: SVI (Thor Melsted, Mike Smith)

The Crew (Jeff Bell, Zack Finfrock, Brett Register)

Best Animation in a Web Series: theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

Nominees:

College Humor: Hardly Working (Dan Meth)

Happy Tree Friends (David Winn, Alan Lau, Jason Sadler, Brad Rau, Roque Bollestros, Paul Allan, Nica Lorber, Michael Lipman)

How It Should Have Ended (Daniel Baxter, Tommy Watson, Tina Alexander)

Inventions (Chris Weller, David Lamps)

theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

Best Original Music in a Web Series: Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

Nominees:

Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

Horrible Turn (Chance McClain, Kevin Ryan, Frank Bullington, Jeremy Botter)

Key of Awesome (Mark Douglas)

Sparhusen (Rob Mailhouse, Todd Spahr, Illeana Douglas)

The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Live Production in a Web Series: Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

Nominees:

Coin-Op TV Live

Fantasy Football Live!

Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

The RadNerd Show

TWiT.tv

Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series: Valemont

Nominees:

Circle of Eight

I

I follow a bunch of celebs/musicians on twitter and sometimes I say hello but they never reply to me :( So I got this idea to search my favourites on skype and I've found a bunch on there and I know for a fact celebs and musicians use skype like everybody else 'cause sometimes they mention skype on their twitter posts, interviews, etc. Would it be appropriate to send them a skype request? I'm not a stalker, I would just love to chat with them, ask them questions, etc.. Do you think this could work? some of my favourite celebs/musicians are: Alexa Chung, Pete Doherty, Fearne Cotton, Nicholas Hoult, Fabiola Gatti, Jack Whitehall, Kieron Richardson, Ashley Taylor Dawson, Lily Allen, Russel Brand, Katy Perry, Andrew Vanwyngarden, Ezra Koenig.

• Players had belief and courage, says Pompey manager
• Harry Redknapp slams disgraceful Wembley pitch

Avram Grant saluted the courage of Portsmouth and their magnificent supporters after his relegated side reached the FA Cup final with a 2-0 victory against Tottenham at Wembley.

Frenchman Frédéric Piquionne and former Tottenham midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, from the penalty spot, scored the goals to take Portsmouth back to the cup final for the second time in three years on the weekend they were consigned to the Coca-Cola Championship.

England goalkeeper David James also produced the save of the match to deny Peter Crouch at the end of normal time.

"We had a belief and the courage to win this game, we knew we could do it," said Grant.

"They are a good team with a great manager but tactically we played very well. The players gave their hearts. It was not easy.

"Five players were not 100% and some players did not play in their right position and we did not even have one defender on the bench. In spite of this we played football, scored two goals and I could not ask for more."

It was a good day, too, for Portsmouth administrator Andrew Andronikou, with the club guaranteed £900,000 in prize money for reaching the final, with another £1m coming from TV money and gate receipts.

For Grant, however, it was a fairytale after a season of turmoil in which the club was docked nine points for entering administration with debts of more than £70m.

"The way we did it after what has happened all this season and to see players give everything and not take the easy solution and not give up and to be in final, it is a crazy day. We could write a book about the many things against us this season."

Grant will now lead out his side against his former club Chelsea next month.

"Blues against blues," added Grant. "I'm very happy. I want to celebrate."

He did not forget the Pompey fans who sang themselves hoarse and stayed celebrating for an hour after the match had finished.

"This achievement belongs to the fans and the players. The players didn't give up. The fans showed how fans need to behave. They were behind the club despite everything. They are so great they deserve it. This club, this year, I will not forget it all my life."

Harry Redknapp branded the Wembley pitch a "disgrace" after players slipped on the treacherous surface throughout the game. The turf had a decisive role to play in the opener with defender Michael Dawson slipping as he attempted to prevent Piquionne from shooting.

"The pitch is a disgrace, a disgrace. I won't use the pitch as a excuse because it was the same for both teams," said Redknapp.

"But for any professional team to have to play football on that is farcical. How can you play on a pitch you can't stand up on?

"You have to spend the whole time making sure you don't fall over. That can't be right can it? It's farcical.

"Dawson slipped on it and I was here yesterday and saw people unable to keep their feet. It's unreal.

"I said before the game that anyone can slip on that pitch, so you'll have to be very careful. Yesterday I saw goalkeepers trying to kick balls but fall over. That's how bad the pitch is – it's rock hard and wet on top. It's impossible play on."

Despite venting his anger at the controversial Wembley turf that was heavily marked in some areas, Redknapp refused to blame it for the defeat.

Spurs missed a host of chances with Peter Crouch the worst offender, although the England striker did have a goal disallowed after Niko Kranjcar shoved David James in the build up.

"It wasn't our day, sometimes it isn't. We had opportunities but we couldn't stick one away," added the Tottenham manager.

"It was a good goal that we had disallowed, I've watched it four or five times but that's how it goes.

"Full credit to Portsmouth, they were always dangerous on the counterattack and had pace.

"They're a threat – they have pace up front and out wide. They're always dangerous on the counter attack.

"Full credit to Avram Grant. He's done a great job because they were well set up and organised. It was their day. I wish them every success in the final."

Tottenham resume their push for a Champions League place on Wednesday when they host Arsenal and Redknapp is relishing the prospect.

"We've got to try and get a fit team out for Wednesday night. We've got Arsenal and that's a massive game," he said.

"In my opinion I couldn't have asked for a better game. If I could choose a game it would be Arsenal at home.

Note: Be sure to check out Tuney’s article from earlier today on trading strategies… ST KILDA v COLLINGWOOD St Kilda B: Jason Gram, Zac Dawson, Sam Gilbert HB: Steven Baker, Jason Blake, Brendon Goddard C: Leigh Montagna, Clint Jones, Nick Dal Santo HF: Andrew McQualter, Sam Fisher, Adam Schneider F: Farren Ray, Nick Riewoldt, Stephen Milne Foll: Michael Gardiner, David Armitage, Lenny [...]

Läst i mars: Books: a memoir av Larry McMurtry, Footnotes in Gaza av Joe Sacco, Fixaren av Joe Sacco, Andrew Henry’s Meadow av Doris Burn, Ett hål om dagen av Louis Sachar, The Ha-ha av Jennifer Dawson, Zlatan, Caligula och ordningen i skolan av Jo...

For Christians around the world, Easter is a time of rebirth and remembrance. In baseball, Opening Day evokes memories of the previous season -- good and bad -- that mingle with hopes for the new one. Last October, I experienced the rare joy of not being able to view the World Series in its entirety. As a New York Mets fan faced with the prospect of watching a Fall Classic featuring the despised crosstown rival Yankees and the reviled Philadelphia Phillies, I was thrilled not to encounter a single Derek Jeter T-shirt or reddish-pink “P” cap while overseas on business. Unfortunately, the trip ended and I returned to the States just in time to see the Yankees crowned as champions for only the 27th time since Christopher Columbus discovered America.

By the time the confetti strewn about Lower Manhattan had been picked up and carted away, the offseason drama was already in full swing. Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers were ringside spectators to the ugliest baseball divorce in recent memory, as owner Frank McCourt and his wife (and deposed Dodgers CEO) Jamie fought tooth and nail to ruin one another’s reputation and pave the way for what many believe to be an eventual sale of the club. One Dodgers season-ticket holder commented, “My hope is they both die and go to hell for destroying one of the four top baseball teams in the majors.”

Texas Rangers skipper Ron Washington revealed that he failed a drug test last summer. (That may explain some of his pitching decisions.) He admitted to snorting cocaine only once -- qualifying as perhaps the first-ever gainfully employed man in America to start experimenting with hard-core narcotics after acquiring AARP membership -- but later acknowledged consuming “greenies” (amphetamines) and marijuana as a player in the 1980s. Outgoing Rangers owner Tom Hicks rallied to Washington’s defense (“we believe in second chances”), but former relief pitcher Bob Tufts remembered a very different response from Hicks upon learning of Alex Rodriguez’s use of performance-enhancing drugs: “I feel personally betrayed.#...#I feel deceived by Alex.” (For a reminder of “how Tom Hicks became the most hated owner in baseball,” read Maury Brown’s column here.)

To no one’s surprise (other than his former manager, Tony LaRussa), Mark McGwire admitted to taking steroids in 1998 -- the season in which he shattered Roger Maris’s single-season home-run record -- shortly after he was named hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Washington Post had described his remarks before a congressional committee as those of “a shrunken, lonely, evasive figure,” but as NBC Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra pointed out, “Anyone who spent any time looking back at the tapes of McGwire’s 2005 testimony, however, quickly realizes that there’s no basis for even the suggestion of perjury.” (At those hearings, McGwire refused to answer any questions about his past.)

Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter, one of the most popular players in the game, described Latin ballplayers of African descent as being not black but “impostors.” Describing ex-teammate Vladimir Guerrero, Hunter commented, “Come on, he’s Dominican. He’s not black.” The Angels’ center fielder subsequently apologized for his “poor choice of words.”




Joe Mauer became the second catcher since Thurman Munson in 1976 to win the American League Most Valuable Player award (the other being Ivan Rodriguez in 1999). The Minnesota Twins subsequently rewarded him with an eight-year, $184 million contract extension, including a full no-trade clause. Baseball Prospectus’s Tommy Bennett quipped about the length of the deal: “The Simpsons will be rounding out its 30th season by the time Mauer’s deal is up.” He then added a bit more soberly, “Given Mauer’s back injuries and increasing time as designated hitter, most are operating under the assumption that Mauer will change positions somewhere along the road.”

Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals was the runaway MVP winner in the National League. Pujols received another present weeks later: His team shelled out $120 million over seven years, with a full no-trade clause, to keep teammate outfielder Matt Holliday in a St. Louis uniform.

The Cy Young Award winners in both leagues pitched for hitting-starved teams. In the NL, the San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum earned his second consecutive award, one month after picking up his first arrest for marijuana possession. Zack Greinke was the AL winner playing for the Kansas City Royals, whose projected 2010 lineup was put under a microscope last December by Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski. Closer Andrew Bailey of the Oakland A’s was named AL Rookie of the Year. Chris Coghlan, the left fielder for the Florida Marlins, took home the NL honors. Manager of the Year honors went to Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies and Mike Scioscia of the Angels.

Outfielder Andre Dawson was the sole former player voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America. He will be the second and -- thanks to the disrespect baseball writers have given the candidacy of his fellow outfielder Tim Raines -- almost certainly the last player to be honored in Cooperstown wearing a Montreal Expos cap, the first being Gary Carter.

In a three-way trade, the Phillies obtained 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays, and three prospects from the Seattle Mariners, in exchange for sending three top farmhands to Toronto and 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee to Seattle. The club promptly locked up Halladay, whose contract was set to expire after this season, for three additional years at $20 million per season.

The Mariners far exceeded expectations last year with 85 wins and, in addition to obtaining Lee, lured Chone Figgins away from the rival Angels. Still, Sports Illustrated’s Tim Marchman cautioned fans about the team’s chances this season, in no small part because the Mariners’ opponents outscored them by 52 runs in 2009. “Run differential tells a bit more about a team’s quality than winning percentage does, so in truth Seattle needed to make some improvements just to hold its ground this year.”

The world champion Yankees parted ways via free agency with outfielder Johnny Damon, who ultimately signed with the Detroit Tigers. Also on the move was World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, who will play this year for the Angels. To compensate, general manager Brian Cashman signed free agent Nick Johnson to replace Matsui as the designated hitter and traded for outfielder Curtis Granderson in a three-team, eight-player trade involving the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tigers. Arizona obtained pitchers Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy, while the Tigers got pitchers Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, and Phil Coke, and rookie outfielder Austin Jackson. The Bronx Bombers also firmed up their already excellent starting rotation by dealing with the Atlanta Braves for Javier Vazquez.




Committed to improving their starting pitching and defense, the Boston Red Sox signed Angels ace John Lackey to a five-year, $85 million contract and brought in Adrian Beltre to play third, Marco Scutaro to play shortstop, and Mike Cameron to roam center field. Moving last year’s center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury, to left field meant that the club said goodbye to Jason Bay, who subsequently signed with the Mets for four years and $66 million with an easily attainable fifth-year option worth $14 million.

Other free-agent signings of note: pitchers Doug Davis and Randy Wolf (Milwaukee Brewers), Jon Garland (San Diego Padres), Rich Harden (Rangers), Jason Marquis (Washington Nationals), Ben Sheets (A’s), Jose Valverde (Tigers), and Billy Wagner (Braves), and position players Marlon Byrd (Cubs), Vladimir Guerrero (Rangers), Adam LaRoche and Kelly Johnson (Diamondbacks), Felipe Lopez (Cardinals), and Miguel Tejada (Baltimore Orioles).

The Great Recession affected baseball’s bottom line, with Major League Baseball reporting a 6.58 percent decrease in total regular-season attendance last season. Still, reports have circulated that the owners are collecting approximately $80-90 million apiece before a single ticket is sold, thanks to central-fund, revenue-sharing, luxury-tax, and local-media revenues. At a time when new contracts tend to be less lucrative than in previous years -- except for Holliday, Halladay, Lackey, and Mauer -- there are increasing concerns that this may harm management-labor relations.

In the early 2000s, the Oakland A’s were winners on a tight budget, but that distinction now belongs to the Tampa Bay Rays. Owner Stuart Sternberg said that the team’s payroll, currently situated north of $70 million, almost certainly will drop below $60 million after the 2010 season. Still, the prospect of losing left fielder Carl Crawford, first baseman Carlos Peña, and recently obtained closer Rafael Soriano to free agency after this season should not hurt too much, thanks to other young players on its major-league roster, as well as a highly rated farm system.

Rookie phenoms Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds, Jason Heyward of the Braves, and Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals impressed their employers during spring training, but only Heyward will begin the season on the parent club, as Atlanta’s everyday right fielder. Chapman, the southpaw fireballer and Cuban defector who signed a six-year, $30.25 million contract with the Reds during the offseason, and Strasburg, the 101 MPH fastball hurler who was last summer’s number-one draft pick, will both start the season in the minors.

Anyone who is curious about the profusion of new statistical measures in baseball should read Alex Remington’s (relatively) easy-to-understand primers on such figures as batting average on balls in play (BABIP), fielding independent pitching (FIP), adjusted on-base percentage (OBP+), ultimate zone rating (UZR), weighted on-base average (wOBA), win probability added (WPA), win shares, and wins above replacement player (WAR).

Newsday’s Ken Davidoff named as his offseason winners the Rockies, Twins, Yankees, Pirates, Padres, Rays, Rangers, and Blue Jays. His list of losers consisted of the Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Royals, Dodgers, and Giants. Why did he rate Colorado so high? “The Rockies’ winter largely consisted of fine-tuning, but that’s a credit to what they had accomplished to date -- rather than an indictment of any inactivity.#...#” Why so down on the Dodgers? “The commitments to their young, talented position players shouldn’t be discounted, yet their stinginess on the pitching front -- not even offering Randy Wolf arbitration was terrible -- can’t be ignored.#...#” (Nonetheless, he picked Los Angeles to finish ahead of Colorado.)




The 2010 CHONE projected standings for the American League have the Yankees, Twins, and Rangers winning their divisions and the Red Sox earning the wild card. In the National League, the Braves, Cardinals, and Dodgers are projected to capture division crowns, with the wild card going to the Phillies. Last year, CHONE got four of the six division winners correct, as well as one of the two wild cards.

Did I miss anything? The sale of the Rangers from Hicks’s ownership group to a new one headed by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan will not be completed by the start of the season#...#North Side beat writers and other reporters are still baiting the combustible Milton Bradley, who departed Chicago for Seattle in December, while the largest media market’s press corps continue to do their very best to stoke any story involving A-Rod#...#Howard Megdal discussed whether anti-Semitism prevented Hank Greenberg from surpassing Babe Ruth’s single-season home-run record#...#Peter Gammons departed longtime employer ESPN in favor of the MLB Network and NESN, while Orel Hershiser will be the new third wheel in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, joining Jon Miller and Joe Morgan#...#Major League Baseball announced a plan to fingerprint Dominican youths as young as 11 who are interested in playing baseball, as a means to combat age fraud#...#The Mets have the highest payroll in the National League, but they also have so many rotation question marks that the team's fifth-highest-paid starter projects to be its second-best pitcher#...#

The Twins are preparing to play home games in the great outdoors for the first time since 1981, while the A’s are still imprisoned at the foot of Mount (Al) Davis, even though Commissioner Bud Selig has spent a year evaluating a San Jose relocation#...#Speaking of Selig, the Milwaukee Brewers announced that the team’s former owner is being honored with a statue at the home-plate entrance to Miller Park. There is no word yet if his pose from the 2002 All-Star Game will be utilized#...#A classier idea came from the Pirates, who unveiled a plan for a statue of 1960 World Series hero Bill Mazeroski. Meanwhile, manager John Russell announced his plan to bat the starting pitcher eighth during the regular season#...#For those hellbent on absorbing every new statistic, be sure to try this one on for size: SIERA#...#For some reason, tenor Ronan Tynan will no longer be in the Bronx singing “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch#...#An analysis of a vintage photograph showing Rabbit Maranville of the Boston Braves wearing a “good luck” swastika logo on his cap found that the photo was from 1914, years before the Nazis hijacked the Indian philosophical symbol as their own.

Last night the Yankees and Red Sox got the season off to a crackling start with their usual back-and-forth, drama-filled slugfest lasting nearly four hours. With the reigning champs now leading the majors in losses, every team today feels the hope for redemption in what promises to be a glorious spring, summer, and early fall -- well, at least until the Mets fall eight games under .500 and the White House declares that all of Israel is a settlement and no new housing may be constructed.

Play ball!

-- Jason Epstein, a diehard Mets fan and Nationals season-tickets holder, is president of Southfive Strategies, LLC.

---

BEST FRONTWOMAN HYBRID: SLEIGH BELLS
Alison Mosshart's dangerous sex appeal + CSS singer Lovefoxxx's upbeat dance-floor groove + Crystal Castles badass Alice Glass' noisy ferocity = Alexis Krauss, a school teacher turned steamy indie siren leading Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells. Saturday night, she shifted from hip-hop and electro sass to power-rock, gyrating her hips in black tights, a mesh shirt showing a hot pink bra, and gold hoop earrings. She flipped her hair and fired over low-end electro beats and terrorizing nu-metal guitars courtesy of ex-Poison the Well axeman Derek. "No, no, no!" she huffed and puffed. Actually, yes, yes, yes! -- WILLIAM GOODMAN

BEST GROWTH SPURT: SURFER BLOOD
When I saw wobble-pop purveyors Surfer Blood play at last year's CMJ festival in New York City, I was underwhelmed. Singer-guitarist JP Pitts sounded strained and yelpy and the band as a whole seemed nervous and unsure of what to do with itself on stage. Not anymore. On Saturday night, Pitts sang with full-throated accuracy and strutted around the stage like he belonged, leading the band through catchy, Weezerian songs from this year's Astro Coast. At one point, second guitarist Thomas Fekete plucked out a solo with his teeth, prompting a friend to say, "Not that kind of band, dude." He's right, but it was great that Fekete had the balls to go for such a flashy bit of showmanship. --DAVID MARCHESE

BEST COVER: CIRCA SURVIVE
Playing to a throng of diehard fans on the frozen tundra of Stubb's BBQ, this Philly-based, turbocharged rock act was forced to pack as much wallop into their abbreviated set as possible after temperature-related issues with in-ear monitors sabotaged their start. But frontman Anthony Green is a force of nature, a whirling dervish of flailing arms and legs with a fuel-injected holler sourced from somewhere deep within. And while he lamented that it was "as cold as a billion dicks" outside, and had trouble hearing himself, Green quickly made folks forget they'd lost feeling in their extremities, particularly on a cover of Nirvana's "Milk It." Guitarists Colin Frangicetto and Brendan Ekstrom married Kurt Cobain's gnarly riffage with some stunning higher register wails, while Green took the vocals into operatic ranges never reached by the late grunge icon. If Courtney Love had heard them from down the street at the Perez Hilton party, where Hole was playing, she'd undoubtedly have already tweeted 47 love notes to Circa Survive. -- PETER GASTON

BEST MATERIAL FROM MODEL MATERIAL: KAREN ELSON
"I think I'm getting frostbite!" Karen Elson told a modest crowd during an outdoor set on a blustery, 40-degree afternoon at the French Ligation. Indeed, if anybody was there just to gawk at the supermodel wife of the White Stripes' Jack White, they were sorely disappointed. Fronting a color-coordinated band (peach and black), Elson declined an offer of a coat from a fan and soldiered on. The guitar-wielding 31-year-old, whose debut album (produced by her hubby) will be out this summer, has a loungey, twangy vibe that ventures into ethereal territory on her recently released single "The Ghost That Walks." And a nice touch: a rendition of Jackson C. Frank's "Milk and Honey," known primarily from cover versions by Nick Drake and Sandy Denny. -- KEVIN BRONSON

BEST UNDERATTENDED GIG: FRANKIE AND THE OUTS
In an indie rock popularity contest, Frankie Rose would be hard to beat, since the Brooklynite has drummed for garage-pop mainstays Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls. This fall Frankie split from the Stilts to focus on her own jangle-pop project, Frankie and the Outs, who performed at Spiderhouse's chilly outdoor showcase. The band's debut 7-inch was out this fall on pioneering indie pop label Slumberland Records. "Thee Only One," like most of her songs, soundED straight from '80s fuzz-pop group (and labelmates) Black Tambourine's discography, with extra girl group harmonies for good measure. But ultimately the temperature beat the band; they called it quits after an all-too-short five-song set. -- JENN PELLY

BEST MEN IN BLACK: THE BOXER REBELLION
You've heard music like the Boxer Rebellion's before -- dark, brooding, churning Brit-rock made by lads who keen their angst over ringing guitars and 4/4 beats. The quartet, which made waves when its 2009 digital release Union cracked the Billboard charts, seems intent on separating itself from the pack. American singer Nathan Nicholson and his bandmates (an Australian and two Brits) easily won over a Cedar Street Courtyard crowd with songs like "Evacuate." Now for the big stuff: recording their third album this summer with Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, the Vines), and landing a song in the next Twilight movie. -- KB

BEST ATTEMPT AT WARMING UP A COLD NIGHT: MINUS THE BEAR
"This weather is a tuning nightmare," said Minus the Bear singer-guitarist Jake Snider towards the end of his band's set on Stubb's fairly unprotected outdoor stage, just after another gust of wind ripped through the hoodied masses. The 40-degree temperatures were a nightmare in general -- most out-of-towners were vastly unprepared for yesterday's cold spell -- but the Seattle quintet's decision to play "Pachuca Sunrise," a cut from their 2005 album, Menos el Oso, was a fitting distraction. Its opening line about a night on a beach in the Mediterranean, coupled with warm, wavy guitar work from Snider and Dave Knudson, proved a truly transporting combination for a fleeting moment -- until that next gust of wind. -- PG

BEST EXAMPLE OF SONIC DÉTENTE: P.K. 14
In their homeland, Beijing quartet P.K. 14 might be ahead of the curve. Here, where the rebelliousness of the Clash and the riffage of Sonic Youth are familiar cultural currency, it's too easy to finger P.K. 14's lineage. The foursome brought admirable energy and stage aerobics to its set at the Chinese Invasion's showcase at Speakeasy, but the material felt pretty cut-and-paste, even given the language barrier. Better (and less desperate for subtitles) was the punk shoegazing of the Velvet Underground-inspired Carsick Cars, who preceded P.K. 14 to the stage. -- KB

BEST FLUX-CAPACITOR: BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY
"Yo, let's take this shit back, wayyyyyyy back," Krayzie Bone said onstage at the Fader Fort. "Back to 1995, motherfucka!" The reunited Cleveland rap group then busted out a handful of tracks off their four-million-selling '95 release, E. 1999 Eternal: "1st of tha Month," "Tha Crossroads," and "East 1999." The sound was initially a bit muddy on their turbo-fast raps, but hit a smooth streak when they got all Boyz 2 Men on "I Tried" and "Days of Our Lives," two piano ballads with three-way vocals. Hey, they're not joking about the "harmony" in their name. The throwback streak continued with tributes to Tupac, Eazy-E, and Notorious BIG, including a particularly awesome version of "Notorious Thugz," their collabo with Biggie. "Bring that fat motherfucker back to life!" Bizzy belted. Oh, snap! -- WG

BEST T-SHIRT AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUR MUSIC: BLACK TUSK
You know that skull being pierced by two swords? Yeah, that's Black Tusk, the Savannah, GA, trio that comes at you with three vocalists, an army of tattoos, and a scream-heavy fusillade of bottom-heavy riffage that set the entire crowd at Encore in motion. They call it "swamp metal," but that's almost misleading -- the way guitarist Andrew Fidler and bassist Jonathan Athon fold their notes into the precise pounding of drummer James May is anything but murky. An underground Mastodon? -- KB

BEST PARTING WORDS FOR SXSW: JAPANDROIDS
There's a reason why some call SXSW a "rock'n'roll spring break": Loads of increasingly-past-their-prime music enthusiasts attempt to rediscover their younger selves, who could romp around town unfettered for 20 hours at a time, stretching nights to see the sunrise. For those folks, ourselves included, Japandroids were the perfect band to cap this year's festival, reminding us both how fun it is to bounce around a rock club, unintentionally spilling beer on nearby patrons, and how we're trying to stay young as long as we can. "I don't wanna worry about dying," Brian King sang on "Young Hearts Spark Fire." "I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls." One to grow on, indeed. A later line, during "The Boys Are Leaving Town," was more fitting for the drunks flailing about gleefully in front of the stage at Galaxy: "Will we find our way back home? I don't know." Everyone remembers what room they're in, right? -- PG

BEST CROWD INTERACTION: RHYMEFEST
"Hold up, hold up," the Chicago rapper said to stop his DJ. "For all the white people in the building, it goes, 'I got money, money I got,'" he instructed, clearly scolding the nerdy Frat dudes in the front row, singing the wrong lyrics to a cover of 50 Cent's "I Get Money," stiffly dancing in their stripped Abercrombie polos. Later, after a taste of the husky, thick raps from his May 18 release El Che with a rousing "Talk My Shit," Rhymefest dropped 2006's "Brand New," his collabo with Kanye, and took notice of a dude in the frontrow mouthing all 'Ye's lyrics. Rhymefest paused mid-song, instructed him to step onstage and rap Ye's verses. The youngster held his own, too. "I'm Dirty -- Eastside make some noise!" the newbie hollered to the crowd. "I didn't ask you to hype the crowd," Rhymefest responded. "Get off the fuckin' stage." -- WG

BEST DANCE PARTY: TANLINES
A venue called Paradise proved a fitting one for Brooklyn-based Tanlines, a duo of ex-Don Caballero bassist Eric Emm and ex-Professor Murder multi-instrumentalist Jesse Cohen: Their tropicalia-laced rhythms turned a mix of expectant badge-holders and random Austinites into a beach party. Jams like "Three Trees" and "Real Life" -- you can hear them on the band's MySpace -- were fleshed out into booming, room-shaking anthems, equally perfect listening for sharply dressed hipsters and one spazzy, Joe Pesci-esque local. In a week laced with dance acts with much larger hype, I wished I'd taken a peek at these Tanlines far sooner. -- PG

BEST KEYTAR JAMS: DAM-FUNK
Okay, R&B whizz Dam-Funk was very likely the only one jamming out with that squiggly-sounding symbol of '80s ridiculousness, but good lord did he make it funky. Airing tracks from his fantastic double album debut, Toeachizown, the L.A. slickster put on the most dance-inducing set I saw at SXSW. Backed by a drummer, keyboardist, and iBook, Dam laid down sleek electronic grooves that boogied like Rouger Troutman barreling down the freeway in a Delorean and which provided plenty of space for his strangely soulful keytar solos. Dam's a bad dude -- in a good way. --DM

BEST BAD ATTITUDE: TURBO FRUITS
Nashville trio the Turbo Fruits play three-chord garage rock that fizzes over with slaphappy drumming, cracked guitar leads, and simple, bluesy melodies. It's a sound that we've heard before, but the dropout sneer in Jonas Stein's voice as he sang about frying his brain and getting stoned (different things, evidently), and the band's revved engine roar gave what could have been a derivative set a wonderfully rebellious edge. A raucous cover of "Shakin' All Over" made me want to roll up my sleeves, show off the "Born to Lose" tattoo I never got, and smack the man in the mouth. -- DM

BEST UNWARRANTED CRACK COVER: YELAWOLF AND BOB DYLAN
Southerner Yelawolf, a pro skateboarder-cum-rapper covered in tattoos and sporting a long Mohawk with a gold ghetto-blaster around his neck, is the weirdest new addition to hip-hop -- dude is a genre-fuck influenced by Eminem-esque murder ballads and Bone Thugs' super-speed style, plus Kid Rock, punk rock, and, evidently, Bob Dylan. On "Mixin' Up The Medicine," his collabo with Juelz Santana, he transformed a lyric to Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" -- "In the basement mixing up the medicine" -- into a cocaine anthem. -- WG

SECOND BEST UNWARRANTED CRACK COVER: GET BUSY COMMITTEE AND THE KNIFE
This Los Angeles trio -- rappers Apathy and Ryu, and producer Scoop DeVille -- kicked things off at Club DeVille (the irony!) by playing a video of an '80s D.A.R.E. commercial, featuring Peewee Herman warning about the dangers of crack cocaine, before dropping a sample of the Knife's "Heartbeats." Over the chest-rumbling, electro-pop beats, Apathy and Ryu dropped rhymes about -- what else? -- "cokeheads, buglars, and crack fiends." Which is surely exactly what the experimental Swede duo hoped for their dance floor gem. -- WG

BEST REASON RISK FROSTBITE: DUM DUM GIRLS
"We've got two more songs and then we risk hypothermia," said Kristen Gundred, a.k.a. lead Dum Dum girl "Dee Dee," before a packed patio at Spiderhouse coffeeshop. They're known to play with blank facial expressions, but the Californian goth beauty and her crew of dolled-up black leather-and-lace bandmates seemed particularly miserable in the 40 degree weather. Despite frozen fingers, their dark, distorted pop sounded sharp. Performing tracks from their Sub Pop debut I Will Be, the Dum Dum Girls blend Jesus and Mary Chain's goth fuzz with surf guitars and moody, vintage vocals. -- JP

WORST MISSED POTENTIAL: THE FRESH & ONLYS
Almost everything is in order for this San Francisco rock quartet: Their charmingly skuzzy garage rock sound is both weird, with noisy shoegaze guitars and psychedelic song structures, and classically indebted, with a Detroit proto-punk feel and surf rock and rockabilly flourishes. Guitarist Wymond Miles is the stand-out, playing the role in tattered black leather jacket and a bolo tie, shredding on his vintage Fender Jaguar on tracks off their latest release, Grey-Eyed Girls. Singer/guitarist/co-founder Tim Cohen's voice, while excellent on record, was indecipherable and muddy. He wasn't much to watch either: standing idle in a tattered t-shirt, with his big beard and long hair, his aesthetic didn't fit the band's shtick. WANTED: Charismatic singer with sex appeal and stage command. Just sayin'. -- WG

WORST BAND TO LISTEN TO WITHOUT EAR PLUGS: THEE OH SEES
San Francisco rock ragamuffins the Oh Sees put together a nicely ramshackle set of loopy freakbeat -- the sort of thing that I like to imagine one could've heard crashing out of windows on Haight Street in 1965 -- but I should've taken my mom's advice and brought ear plugs. The fuzz screaming from frontman John Dywer's 12-string guitar made me feel as if I should take my ear drums out for an apology dinner. Keyboardist-tambourine player Brigid Dawson appeared to be singing some harmonies as well. Can anyone out there confirm? --DM

WORST TIME TO LEAVE YOUR GLOWSTICK AT HOME: HOOD INTERNET
Chicago-based mixtape maestros Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell made rocking the dance floor look easy at Karma. Mash, plug and play — for the eighth time in 2½ days at SXSW. Whether you move to the music or play spot-that-song (was that really Lil Wayne and Royksopp? Julian Casablancas and Omarion? Dr. Dre and Class Actress?), the duo is undeniably fun. Now if those nerds could only make their laptops dance. -- KB

IN BRIEF:

Québécois shoegazers the Besnard Lakes are known for their mountainous, dramatic sound, but before their set Saturday at the Galaxy Room they soundchecked to "Louie Louie." -- KB

I got frozen out of seeing Nashville riff rock duo Jeff the Brotherhood because the club had reached capacity by the time I arrived. Bad for me, good sign for the band, which has a real charisma and gift for combining punkish energy with stoner stomping. -- DM

When Of Montreal's Jamey Huggins performed as his solo project James Husband at the Polyvinyl Records showcase, two other members of his day band, drummer Davey Pierce and keyboardist Dottie Alexander, played in his quintet, which covered the Bangles' "In Your Room." -- KB

Baltimore hip-hop duo Oh Snap! was fair to partly cringeworthy, but they have spawned funny T-shirts based on one of their songs: "I'm Too Fat to Be a Hipster." -- KB

The Times goes into family topics overdrive today, fanning the flames of the family-as-an-election-issue fire, which is rapidly becoming a conflagration. I found no fewer than six articles, covering various matters, from marriage to children to separation and divorce.

We begin with who else but Ruth Deech - after all, she has been out of the headlines for at least two days - and are told that in her (mercifully) last family law lecture at Gresham college next week (I thought the lectures were monthly?) she will discuss the tricky question of prohibited degrees of relationship. She will apparently argue that the rise in marriages between cousins is putting children's health at risk, citing in particular the high numbers of such marriages in immigrant communities, which also have high numbers of children with recessive disorders. She does not seek a ban on cousin marriage, but rather a public campaign warning of the dangers, together with other measures, such as testing for mutant genes where marriages are arranged. Controversially, she suggests in-vitro embryo testing, brushing aside ethical objections about this being a slippery slope to eugenics, by saying that such objections are met by current guidelines under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.

Apparently 'supporting' this article, we then have two further articles on the subject of cousin marriages, one telling us about some famous examples of such marriages (Darwin marrying his first cousin Emma Wedgewood is given particular prominence), and the other describing a first-cousin marriage, with the husband joking that marrying his cousin means that he doesn't have to deal with a mother-in-law. I shall resist the temptation for a Les Dawson joke...

Moving on, columnist and former Tory MP Matthew Parris unsurprisingly supports the 'obviously good idea' that a tax bribe will encourage more people to get and/or stay married. What is more, for best results he wants the bribe to be generous. To deal with the small problem of how the country might afford this, he comes up with the remarkable idea that it should only apply to those who marry after it comes into effect. Somehow, I don't think that would be much of a vote-winner...

Elsewhere, under Home > Life & Style > Women > Relationships we find an article by writer Justine Picardie in which she describes the breakdown of her marriage and its effect upon her. Her feelings are instructive:

"We live in an age in which people use tidy phrases such as “no-blame divorce” or “by mutual agreement”. But despite the level language of legal mediators and family law specialists, the feelings that arise are primal, savage, and — especially if infidelity has been involved (which it usually is) — clouded by rage, shame, humiliation and jealousy."

She tells us that: "there’s nothing easy about it, whatever Baroness Deech suggests", although she does end on a high note, assuring us that there is life after divorce.

Finally, also under Home > Life & Style > Women > Relationships we have an article by marital therapist Andrew Marshall, confusingly entitled 'Jerry Hall on how to survive after a separation', in which he gives us 'five scenarios when you should put down the phone to the solicitor and think again'. I confess that by the time I got to this article my concentration was fading, so I will leave it to you to reach your own conclusions...

Agency: Grey Canada, Vancouver Creative Director: Geoff Dawson Art Director: Andrew McKinley Copywriter: Geoff Dawson Illustrator: Andrew McKinley

Client: Burger King
Campaign Title: Steakhouse XT
Spots Title: The King's Gone Crazy
Air Date: March 2010

Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Co-Executive CD(s): Rob Reilly, Andrew Keller
CD(s): James Dawson-Hollis, Bill Wright
AD: Brandt Lewis
Copywriter: David Roth
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Executive Integrated Producer: Chad Hopenwasser
Producer: Christina Carter

Prod Company: Tool of North America
Director: Geordie Stephens
DP: John Schwartzman
EP(s): Brian Latt, Jennifer Siegel
EP Digital: Dustin Callif
Line Producer: Jeff Tanner
Production Designer: Peter Benson

Editorial: Cosmo Street
Editor: Lawrence Young
Assistant Editor: Shinya Sato
Producer: Jerry Sukys

Telecine: Complete Post
Colorist: Sparkle
Producer: Kevin Buck

Post/Effects: Method

Music Company: Beacon Street Studios
Content Management Supervisor: Blair Jaffe
Content Supervisor: Aileen Echenique
Content Manager: McKenna Olson
Assistant Content Manager: Matthew Casperson

Shoot Location: Valencia, CA

Ok, we're not 100% sure of the context here, but the bottom line is that a series of emails out of China are racing through the internet, and they involve a banker apparently at Credit Suisse (Lily Zhang) writing to her friends that she is splitting up with her husband. Also included in the email is her husband, and the Merrill Banker, Diannne he allegedly cheated with.

Via this Sina.com blog, here are the complete emails. Even though all of the email addresses are floating around the internet, we'v eobscured all of the ones of the non-involved parties that just happened to be getting CC'd on a spat between three people.

The first is from Lily, the second is from Yale (her husband) and the third is from his alleged mistress (which is never denied).

----

发件人: Zhang, Lily [mailto:lily.zhang@credit-suisse.com]
发送时间: 2010年2月23日 10:23
收件人: Tao, Diane; yiyang_tao@ml.com; Sun, Yonghong; Winn, Sean; Stevens, Joe; Dawson, Andrew; Morrison, Alastair; Huh, Charles; Chu, Mabel; Yee, Andrew; cici779200@y(*&o.com.cn; liyi@j(*&he.com; delh@j(*&e.com; josieshen@(*&$al.net; xy@$#*&p.com; dcwyml@(*&il.com; charles@(*&al.com; euniqueyoung@(*&o.com.hk; Shiu, Ruby; taeyubkim@*c.com; Lai, Daniel Xiao Ming; Li, Sherry Shao Ling; Yang, Sean; Zhang, Ting; Cheung, Clara Siu Yum; Wang, Cindy Xi; Zhu, Wei; xujane@$#)(*il.com; Prince, Jamaliah
抄送: Yale Yang
主题: Dear friends ... Moving on ..

Dear friends,
After 13 years and 2 beautiful children together, Yale and I have parted our ways. Yale moved out last week.

Dear Diane/Tao Dan Yang,
Over the past couple of years, you knew everything about my family. You knew when my kids had their soccer tournaments, you knew when they had their swimming practices. You even knew their baby nicknames. On December 18th, 2009, on a noon flight, I took my children to the U.S. for Christmas vacation. On the very same day, December 18th, 2009, on an afternoon flight, you and Yale took off for the beaches of Phuket and shopping streets of Bangkok for Christmas vacation. Diane, as a fellow woman, I often wondered if the level of ecstasy this vacation had brought you equates to the level of devastation this vacation had brought to my children and me. Diane, I often asked myself what was it like for you to sleep in the arms of another woman's husband, other children's father? I wondered if you ever thought about us, the children and the wife, that we are made of flesh and blood, that we have feelings, that we could get hurt, very hurt, devastatingly hurt. I pondered if you knew you were destroying a family, if you knew your joy would bring endless tears to us.

We went to Beijing last week for Chinese New Year. Your clothes were in our Beijing home. My son screamed:" Mommy, don't touch those, they are disgusting! Set them on fire, burn them to hell. They are the devil's cloth!" My children are hurt. My daughter, 9 years old, now says "Mommy, I don't ever want to get married." My son, 8 years old, says "Diane is our Voldemort!" The psychological damage this affair has done to my children is catastrophic. They are forever emotionally damaged. With this, I announce you the winner.
How do I feel, Diane? This affair is like 10 thousand knives stabbing and chopping my heart all at once. This affair has left me in so much pain that I don't know how to heal myself. This affair has taught me tear supply can actually be infinite. This affair has crushed me, leaving me a corpse walking around with no heart. I don't know how to deal with this kind of pain. I don't know how to move on. But I have children. I must move on. Diane, I pray to God that you will never have to experience this kind of betrayal and hurt. I wish you and Yale a happy life together because, after all, we are all women and we all deserve to be happy.

With sincere regards,
Lily

**************************************************************************

发件人: Yale Yang [mailto:yale.yang@gbridge.biz]
发送时间: 2010年2月23日 11:14
收件人: Zhang, Lily
抄送: Tao, Diane; yiyang_tao@ml.com; Sun, Yonghong; Winn, Sean; Stevens, Joe; Dawson, Andrew; Morrison, Alastair; Huh, Charles; Chu, Mabel; Yee, Andrew; cici779200@($#*&o.com.cn; liyi@junhe.com; delh@j$#(*Ue.com; josieshen@#$@(*&l.net; xy@vicap.com; dcwyml@#$(*&il.com; charles@#$(@*&tal.com; euniqueyoung@yahoo.com.hk; Shiu, Ruby; taeyubkim@*c.com; Lai, Daniel Xiao Ming; Li, Sherry Shao Ling; Yang, Sean; Zhang, Ting; Cheung, Clara Siu Yum
主题: Re: Dear friends ... Moving on ...

Lily,

Please do not bring the personal issues to the public. The truth of the facts is that our marriage had been falling apart 8 years ago, divorce had been in discussion 5 years ago. Our issues are known to all the people in the word! Diane had done nothing wrong for her part! I am firmly standing by and behind Diane. I will certainly hope she will marry me one day soon!

Trying to tell the people how evil I am and Diane is in this way is not going to succeed! All the people, who knows you, me and our marriage, supported my divorce, including my good friend Zhu Wei. I am sorry I have dragged everyone into this. Lily please move on!

Sincerely yours

Yale

**************************************************************************

发件人: Tao, Diane
发送时间: 2010年2月25日 10:25
收件人: Zhang, Lily
抄送: Yang, Yale; yiyang_tao@ml.com; Sun, Yonghong; Winn, Sean; Stevens, Joe; Dawson, Andrew; Morrison, Alastair; Huh, Charles; Chu, Mabel; Yee, Andrew; cici779200@yahoo.com.cn; liyi@j$*#e.com; delh@)(*e.com; josieshen@#$()@l.net; xy@)$(*p.com; dcwyml@$#()*.com; charles@$#()*l.com; euniqueyoung@$#(*.com.hk; Shiu, Ruby; taeyubkim@sc.com; Lai, Daniel Xiao Ming; Li, Sherry Shao Ling; Yang, Sean; Zhang, Ting; Cheung, Clara Siu Yum; Wang, Cindy Xi; Zhu, Wei; xujane@gmail.com; Prince, Jamaliah
主题: Re: Dear friends ... Moving on ...

 Dear Lily,

I understand that you are going through a difficult time in your personal life, and I sincerely hope that you will find a way to deal with it that is the best for you and your children.

 I do understand how you feel.  I also understand, however, that a marriage can only break apart from the inside.  I do not appreciate your attempt to smear my reputation and paint me as the home wrecker.  You know as well as Yale does that your marriage fell apart long before Yale and I even met.  Whether or not I am in Yale's life has nothing to do with the eventual outcome of your marriage.  I am sure you understand this as well, but you nonetheless sought to burn me on the cross as the scapegoat for your failed marriage, which I do not believe is a mature thing to do.

 Your description of the emotional damage your children have suffered is disturbing indeed.  I cannot help but wondering what you have been telling them.  I would think that a mother's first and foremost priority is to protect her children from any emotional damage, rather than using them as bargaining chips with a spouse or as props to win public sympathy.  Yale is the children's father and will always be.  I am sure he will always love them and be the best father he can be to them.  Wouldn't it make more sense, for the sake of the children's wellbeing, to emphasize to them that both their parents will always love them even though one parent will not be living with them all the time?  I do not see what benefit there could possibly be to teach the children to hate their own father.

You asked me how it was like to sleep in Yale's arms.  I also wanted to ask you, Lily, why would you want to hang on to someone who clearly does not want to be with you at all?  Lily, you are intelligent, highly-educated and you have a high-paying and well-respected job.  So why did you spend so much time and energy trying to force someone who does not care about you to stay with you?  As a fellow woman I want to ask you this, don't you think you deserve better?  If there's anything that is worse than sleeping in the arms of another woman's husband, it is sleeping in the arms of someone who resents you, cannot stand you and wants to run away from you whenever he gets a chance.  So Lily, why would you want to put yourself in that situation?  Once again, don't you think you deserve better?

 I sincerely hope that the pain you are currently feeling will subside soon and you can turn a new leaf in your life.  Please remember, you can lose a job, you can lose a spouse, but you should never lose yourself.  And please, do not vent your negative feelings on your children.  They are innocent.  Please always keep in mind their best interests rather than your own.  You deserve true happiness, and I hope that you will find it soon.

Best regards,

Diane

Join the conversation about this story »

Welcome to March Madness, that special time of year where we all give ourselves migraines and bald heads simply by watching amateur teams poorly execute basic late-game strategies. Or we pretend to overlook the fundamentals and just drool over John Wall.  

Here's the official Blazersedge Readers bracket contest.  Join it now.

The Blazers are blitzing through March, 6-1 for the month and poised to stretch that number further once their Spring Break concludes on Friday.  It was a TCOB type of week for the Blazers and they didn't falter.  The frosting on the cupcake: Brandon Roy was honored today as Western Conference Player of the Week.

Here's what you might have missed this weekend...

--------------------------

Kings Recap | Raptors Recap | Raptors Media Row Report

--------------------------

Unfortunately, Blazers Broadcasting is struggling to keep up with its team; The picture quality during recent games has bordered on garbage.  Friday night's game on KGW was so bad the network issued a "pass the buck" apology while its viewers valiantly tried to stave off epileptic seizures.  And then the broadcast for last night's home game featured sewer slime. Blazers Broadcasting, now brought to you by the Ninja Turtles.  Comcast: Should Blazers fans call DirecTV to complain about these problems too?

Anyway, click through for the truth about Hedo's wife, a wisecracking, vendetta-possessing Nicolas Batum, some praise for Nate McMillan, a defensive LaMarcus Aldridge takes a swipe at Blazers fans, Greg Oden in the news rather than in the nude, the New York media turns on Sergio and, as always, this week's Power Rankings and Playoff Odds.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

John Canzano sets the record straight about Mrs. Turkoglu...

"Don't know who made that story about my wife," Turkoglu said. "She would love it here. Or anywhere. The last second Toronto came in and it felt like a good fit -- East Coast style. I thought I fit good. My wife never said she didn't like to be in Portland."

...

"She's never even been to Canada once," Hedo said, "you could check her papers and my little baby's papers if you want."

Andrew R. Tonry of Portland Roundball Society goes in on Hedo...

"Mrs. Turkoglu," the homemade sign read, "Thanks for Andre." And indeed, we are thankful.

Thankful for a whip-smart ball handler. Thankful for a cagey veteran. Thankful for a guy who's finally pushing the tempo (at least a bit). Thankful for one of the best rebounding guards in the league. And last, but not least, thankful not to have a big, dopey, bad-shot taking, constantly complaining, junk-food scarfing small forward clogging up his arteries, the Portland payroll and the Blazers starting lineup.

Casey Holdahl on Nicolas Batum...

It was November 10, 2008, Batum's seventh game in the NBA. The Trail Blazers were taking on the Magic in Orlando. Portland ended up winning the game 106-99 thanks in part to a 27-point night from Brandon Roy. But even though the Blazers got the win, Batum felt like Turkolgu, who scored 35 points in 42 minutes, got the best of him. For Batum, a player who relishes the task of shutting down opposing players on the offensive end, this was unacceptable.

"I got something special with Hedo because that's the first guy who kicked my ass last year," said Batum. "You can't do that again. I play against him in the summer too, France and Turkey. Boris (Diaw) wants to guard him, I say ‘No no, I got it. I got it.'"    

Mike Barrett with a good point...

As I told you at the time, and I say again now, the effect of Batum's injury to start the season was much greater than anyone believed. Where would this Blazers' team be if they would have had a healthy Batum from the start? All of the injuries were significant, but it's no coincidence that Portland is playing it's best basketball of the season, and is consistently closing teams out late in games, now that Batum is hitting full stride.

Jason Quick with a funny Batum line...

Two possessions later, he was at it again, lofting a high lob pass that seemed too high, but Aldridge corralled it for an emphatic dunk. 

"The alley-oop by L.A. and Rudy -- whooo! -- that was high!" Batum said. "In the timeout, Nate was talking, but I was looking up at the scoreboard (with wide eyes), and I couldn't believe how high. That's the only time I haven't listened to Coach."     

Here's video of the alleyoop.

In an interview with Brian T. Smith, LaMarcus Aldridge takes an unnecessary shot at Blazers fans...

It has taken the Trail Blazer power forward nearly four years to acquire the trait. Four years to put on what he refers to as a "hardhat" and develop thicker skin. But the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Aldridge said he has finally grown tougher and stronger. And with the new skin comes a new level of confidence and determination.

"As long as my teammates know I'm doing what they need, that's all that matters," Aldridge, 24, said. "Because you can't really listen to the fans all the time, because they don't know what's really going on in house, and they don't know what the team needs."

ESPN's LZ Granderson says Nate for Coach of the Year...

"Nate has done a great job of keeping this team together when we had all the reasons in the world to fold the tent," Roy said. "Despite having more injuries than probably any other team, he's managed to stay focused and overcome all of that and keep us right in the thick of the playoff race."

Kevin Pritchard, the team's GM, says McMillan is like a circus performer.

"He's an incredible juggler," he joked. "Guys fall out, new guys come in and he just keeps making adjustments based on who's available, which seems to change every other day."

Brian T. Smith quotes Assistant Coach Bill Bayno on Nate McMillan...

"The thing I think gets lost - in having been a head coach and knowing how hard it is to put a team together; to get them to be unselfish - I just think it's been lost the job that Nate (McMillan) has done with all of these injuries. I would never, ever want to have to coach a team where we had all those injuries in the preseason. Then guys come back. Then they get hurt again. So, the chemistry has constantly been a challenge; it's always been evolving. And I really think Nate doesn't get the credit that he deserves, nor do the players. These guys have weathered this. They've stayed together. We've had some unbelievable wins on the road: San Antonio, Dallas, Phoenix. And I think sometimes people take it for granted."    

Frank Hughes of SI.com with some harsh words for Greg Oden...

It appears as if Oden is a bust, the calamity of untimely injuries derailing his career before it even got started, the second coming of Sam Bowie, whose body betrayed him -- and the Blazers -- in the same fashion in the '80s. But the Blazers don't view Oden as the next Bowie, the player taken ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft, a time when Portland already had Clyde Drexler and did not want to duplicate the position.

"We are not there yet," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "There is potential there. He's doing well right now. We got a year to get him stronger. We aren't giving up."

Sheed on Bustabucket.com breaks down the meaning of the last week's worth of games...

This last stretch of games was more than just 4 victories. I think roles are getting defined, guys are getting comfortable, and everyone knows it's time to finish the regular season strong. There are a couple reasons for my decision. First off, Brandon Roy appears to be 100% healthy and back to full strength in every way. The damage he did on the road against Golden State and Sacramento proved that he's ready to regain his closer status. I also think that it's become overwhelmingly clear that Nicolas Batum is our best option at small forward and Nate McMillan knows it. Webster is maxing out at 15 minutes a game off the bench while Nic is flourishing as a starter. Batum may not put up offensive numbers every game, but he's out there for his shot blocking and playmaking abilities on defense. He also showed once again tonight that he has a sweet jumper that spreads the floor for Brandon Roy to do his thing late in games.

Now the question remains for me, is this a team that can do anything in the playoffs? 

...

But can the Blazers expect a different outcome against Utah or Denver in a playoff series? I'd like to believe that this nucleus of players has enough firepower to scare any first round opponent. But we still don't really know yet.

Coup on Rip City Project writes...

Rudy Fernandez gave another performance which was at one point worthy of fist pumping and at another worthy of squinting and beard-stroking. He was great as usual with his feet underneath him on the perimeter, but evoked Martell Webster when he chose to dribble. While team's don't really have to double Rudy off-the-dribble because he can't always beat his man - and when he does he can't always finish - they are actually well served in doing so once he gets below the free-throw line extended because Rudy's exit strategy is most often passing to the nearest Blazer behind him, rather than looking for the guy the double came off of.

Dwight Jaynes has been screaming for better ball movement all season and he's starting to get it...

Love the way they're playing on offense right now - excellent ball movement while getting more players involved.

This is when they're most dangerous on offense, when they aren't just standing around watching Brandon Roy play one-on-one. Would love to see some more intensity on defense, with more attention to contesting shots, but I guess you can't have everything.

But Kelly Dwyer was not impressed...

This game? This was hard to watch. It honestly was, because the defense was so bad on either end. Both teams are slow-down scorers, so the raw score didn't reek of a 132-121 Phoenix win over the Warriors, but the defense was just as bad as those two teams at their worst.

Portland scored 109 points in an 80 possession game, and that's pretty bad. I respect Portland's offense a great deal and like that team a lot, but that's just miserable defense, Toronto. 

95.5FM's Gavin Dawson writes on Facebook...

so the worst kept secret in sportsradio is pretty much out. I'm leaving for dallas after Fridays show. 105.3 The Fan. Huge thx to the Game for giving me the shot, chad and dwight are great friends. james derby and tim mcnamara are pimps. brian jennings-radio genius. Hey entercom, thanks for firing me in 2008! Canzano might be a Richard sometimes in print and air but trust me he is a great dude. LF4L.

Best of luck, Gavin.

Quick Hits

• New York Post: Sergio Rodriguez is too "immature" for New York City.  Surprised it took that long for that angle to come out. It's been, what, 3 whole weeks?
• Brother Wendell Maxey with a nice feature on Carl Landry.
• Portland Roundball Society helps you channel your Hedo angst with some funny custom jerseys.
• Kevin Arnovitz with an enlightening interview with the new man in charge for the Clippers. He plans to evaluate Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw, in part, on their analytics.
• Blazers.com put out a viral video of Greg Oden (safe for work).
• SI.com pulled this 2004 article about Greg Oden out of the archives.
• A Portland Roundball Society contributor assaults Brian T. Smith's character on Twitter.

Power Rankings

• Parker: Blazers are 9th
• Hollinger: Blazers are 10th
• Stein: Blazers are 11th 
• Schuhmann: Blazers are 13th
• Aldridge: Blazers are 12th

Playoff Odds

• Hollinger: 98.3%
• Basketball-Reference: 98.3%

Drop anything I missed in the comments. And, please, frequent the FanShots.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter

Los ''Red Knights'', un grupo de figuras financieras que incluye al ex presidente de la Football League Keith Harris y al economista de Goldman Sachs Jim O''Neill, explicaron que sus planes de compra del club aún están en una etapa inicial, aunque la familia estadounidense Glazer, propietaria de la institución, asegura que el club no está en venta.

"Nomura trabajará cerca de los ''Red Knights'', el (fondo inversor) Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) y otros potenciales inversores para coordinar y formular la propuesta que se presentará a la familia Glazer", indicaron en un comunicado.

"El equipo del Nomura será liderado Guy Dawson y Andrew McNaught, ambos asesores de la junta directiva del United cuando el club fue vendido a los Glazer en el 2005. Nomura está iniciando su rol contactando a todas las expresiones de apoyo financiero que los Red Knights han recibido", agregó.

La polémica se avivó más ayer cuando David Beckham, ex del United y ahora en las filas del AC Milan, se puso en Old Trafford una bufanda verde y dorada, colores que solían identificar al club cuando era conocido como Newton Heat en sus primeros días, y que están utilizando los aficionados contrarios a la gestión de los Glazer.

Before the opening bounce, Best Off Ground is taking a trip around the country to look at all 16 clubs with its 2010 AFL Previews. Next up is St Kilda.

Last year: 20-2, 1st
Finals: Lost grand final v Geelong Cats
Best and Fairest: Nick Riewoldt

Additions: Brett Peake, Jesse Smith, Adam Pattison, Andrew Lovett (suspended indefinitely)
Losses: Max Hudghton, Luke Ball, Matt Maguire, Xavier Clarke, Leigh Fisher
Draftees to keep an eye on: Nicholas Winmar (pick 32), Tommy Walsh (int'l)

"Deep down we've got to learn from this. We've got to savour it, bottle it, and make sure we learn from the experience. Geelong were in exactly the same position 12 months ago, and they were good enough to come out and go one step better this year. We're at that level."

-Captain Nick Riewoldt, rallying his troops after their grand final loss

St Kilda dominated the home and away season last year and fell agonizingly short in the grand final. They took their game to an unprecedented new level in a season where everything – well, almost everything – seemed to fall into place.

But can they repeat the style of play they executed so brilliantly in 2010?

Will we see the same St Kilda we saw last year?

It’s almost impossible to answer. A lot of people thought early in the season they couldn’t keep up the pressure for a full season, and those people were proven wrong. Of course they’ll have added motivation this year, too.

However on the other hand, the Saints had a dream run with injuries last year and their depth wasn’t really tested. A couple of headlines of the wrong sort during the break have complicated matters further.

The club will be impacted by the loss of Luke Ball, and will further hurt by the fact they got nothing in return for him and Andrew Lovett's sacking.

Having said that, quality certainly still exists all over the park. Sam Gilbert and the re-born Zac Dawson will be responsible for holding the fort down back, and they are surrounded by a lot of talent in Brendan Goddard, Sam Fisher and Jason Gram.

With the assistance of defensive pressure all over the ground, the Saints’ backs earned much praise last year.

The side’s midfield has evolved into one of the competition’s best. With guys like Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna, who were all spectacular in 2009, as well as the tagging abilities of Clint Jones, it’s not hard to see why.

An ageing ruck division – with Steven King and Michael Gardiner – could provide a headache, however.

Up forward they have easily one of the best players in the comp, Nick Riewoldt, and his more than able strike partner, Justin Koschitzke.

The concern lies with smalls like Stephen Milne, Adam Schnieder and Adam McQualter, who all copped criticism late in the season and, more specifically, on grand final day. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond in 2010.

Which is pretty much how it is for this entire team. It certainly will be interesting to see how the Saints respond.

Prediction: 1st-4th

Premiership: $3.80 (1st)
Top 8: $1.03 (=1st)
Wooden Spoon: $501 (=15th)

Source: TAB Sportsbet

Saints Footy.

Round 1: v Sydney Swans, ANZ, Ten
Round 2: v North Melbourne, Etihad, Ten
Round 3: v Collingwood, Etihad, Ten
Round 4: v Fremantle, Etihad, Fox
Round 5: v Port Adelaide, AAMI, Ten

By Rob Maguire for Art Threat—a blog covering political art and cultural policy.

Tadamon, a Montreal-based collective that works in solidarity with struggles for self-determination, equality and justice in the Middle East, has spearheaded a call from Montreal artists to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid. The following is an open letter they released on February 25.

Today, a broad spectrum of Montreal artists are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and supporting the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Last winter, the Israeli state launched a violent military assault on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, leaving over 1400 Palestinians dead, including over 300 children. Despite the official end of military operations, the blockade continues to this day, with devastating consequences for Gaza’s residents.

Over 60 years from the beginning of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from historic Palestine through Israel’s creation, Montreal artists are united in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice.

Montreal artists are now joining this international campaign to concretely protest the Israeli state’s ongoing denial of the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, as stipulated in and protected by international law, as well as Israel’s ongoing occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza, which also constitutes a violation of international law and multiple United Nations resolutions.

Palestinian citizens face an entrenched system of racial discrimination and segregation, resembling the defeated apartheid system in South Africa. A matrix of Israeli-only roads, electrified fences, and over 500 military checkpoints and roadblocks erase freedom of movement for Palestinians. Israel’s apartheid wall, which was condemned by the International Court of Justice in 2004, cuts through Palestinian lands, further annexing Palestinian territory and surrounding Palestinian communities with electrified barbed wire fences and a concrete barrier soaring eight meters high.

Gaza remains under siege. Israel continues to impose collective punishment on the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza, who still face chronic shortages of electricity, fuel, food and basic necessities as the campaign of military violence executed by the apartheid state of Israel endures. UN officials recently observed that the "situation has deteriorated into a full-fledged emergency because of the cut-off of vital supplies for Palestinians." As a result of Israeli actions, Gaza has become a giant prison.

The global movement against Israeli apartheid, supported by a large majority of Palestinian civil society, is not targeted at individual Israelis but at Israeli institutions that are complicit in maintaining the multi-tiered Israeli system of oppression against the Palestinian people.

In fact, the Palestinian civil society BDS call, launched by over 170 Palestinian organisations in 2005, explicitly appeals to conscientious Israelis, urging them to support international efforts to bring about Israel’s compliance with international law and fundamental human rights, essential elements for a justice-based peace in the region. The present appeal is also rooted in an active engagement with many progressive Israeli artists and activists who are working on a daily basis for peace and justice while supporting the growing global movement in opposition to Israeli apartheid.

During the first and second intifadas, Israel invaded, ransacked, and even closed down cinemas, theatres and cultural centers in the occupied territories. These deliberate attempts to stifle the Palestinian cultural voice have failed and will continue to fail. Around the world, the call for BDS is growing and is strongly rooted in the historic international solidarity movement against apartheid in South Africa.

In keeping with Nelson Mandela’s declaration that "our freedom [in South Africa] is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians," we believe that international solidarity is critical to liberating Palestinians from Israeli colonialism and apartheid. This struggle will continue until all Palestinians are granted their basic human rights, including the right of return for all Palestinian refugees living in the Diaspora.

Today, a diverse array of artists in Montreal, from filmmakers, musicians and dancers to poets, authors and painters, are joining the international movement against Israeli apartheid. On the streets, in concert halls, in words and in song, we commit to fighting against apartheid and call upon all artists and cultural producers across the country and around the world to adopt a similar position in this global struggle.

To add your support to this letter or to present questions or suggestions please write to info@tadamon.ca

1: Aidan Girt, musician, 1-Speed Bike
2: Alexander Moskos, musician, AIDS Wolf
3: Chole Lum, musician, AIDS Wolf
4: Yannick Desranleau, musician, AIDS Wolf
5: Esmeralda Súmar Jara, Amérythmes
6: Karen Lliana Lemus, Amérythmes
7: Ronald Lemus, Amérythmes
8: José Sermeno Rosales, Amérythmes
9: Daviyd Yisrael, Amérythmes
10: Pierre Allard, Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, ATSA
11: Annie Roy, Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, ATSA
12: Hamid Nach, musician, Bambara Trans
13: Kattam Laraki-Côté, percussionist, Bambara Trans
14: Iqi Balam, singer, Banda de Gaza
15: Owain Lawson, musician, Black Feelings
16: Brian Mitchell, musician, Black Feelings
17: Kyle Fostner, musician, Black Feelings
18: James Di Salvio, Bran Van 3000
19: Bronwen Agnew, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
20: Maire White, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
21: Skyla Mody, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
22: Annabelle Rivard, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
23: Veronica Post, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
24: Sonja Engmann, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
25: Cathy Inouye, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
26: Anne Gorry, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
27: Andrea Miller-Nesbitt, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
28: Joseph Boulos, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
29: Matt Corks, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
30: Florence Richer, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
31: Maggie Schreiner, Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble
32: Jon Boles, musician, Clues
33: Ben Borden, musician, Clues
34: Brendan Reed, musician, Clues
35: Don Wilkie, co-founder, Constellation Records
36: Ian Ilavsky, co-founder, Constellation Records
37: Tyler Megarry, DJ Backdoor
38: Robyn Maynard, DJ Dirtyboots
39: Kevin Moon, DJ Moonstarr
40: Vladimir López, DJ Palosanto
41: Scott Clyke, DJ Scott C
42: Mike Lai, DJ Static
43: Mado Lamotte, Drag Queen Diva
44: Nader Hasan, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
45: Nick Kuepfer, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
46: Aidan Jeffery, musician, Echoes Still Singing Limbs
47: Amine Benbachir, Elby & Woods
48: Jordan McKenzie, musician, Elfin Saddle
49: Emi Honda, musician, Elfin Saddle
50: Deeqa Ibrahim, singer, Empress Deeqa
51: Normand Raymond, musician, Ensemble Acalanto
52: Carmen Pavez, musician, Ensemble Acalanto
53: Rafael Azocar, musician/composer, Ensemble Acalanto
54: Rebecca Foon, musician, Esmerine
55: Jean-Sébastien Truchy, musician, Fly Pan Am
56: Lisa Gamble, Gambletron
57: Emilie Mouchous, electronic musician, Gamackrr
58: Sub Roy, musician, Grand Trine
59: Zayid Al-Baghdadi, musician, Hazaj Ensemble
60: Fadi Halawi, musician, Hazaj Ensemble
61: Michael Farsky, musician, Homosexual Cops
62: Joel Janis, singer, Jahnice +
63: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, artist, Jerusalem in My Heart
64: Lubo Alexandrov, musician, Kaba Horo
65: Erik Hove, saxophonist, Kaba Horo
66: Zibz Black Current, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
67: Matin Heslop, contrabass, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
68: Ron G. vocalist, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
69: Katalyst, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
70: Adam Kinner, saxophonist, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
71: Mohamed Mehdi, guitar/voice, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
72: Jordan Peters, guitar, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
73: Fabrice Koffy, poet, Kalmunity Vibe Collective
74: Gordon Allen, musician, L’Envers
75: Simon Leduc, musician, Le Descente du Coude
76: Fanny Bloom, La Patère Rose
77: Kilojoules, La Patère Rose
78: Roboto, La Patère Rose
79: Simon D., Léopard et Moi
80: Lynne T., Lesbians on Ecstasy
81: Bernie Bankrupt, Lesbians on Ecstasy
82: Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne, rapper, Chafiik, Loco Locass
83: Geneviève Beaulieu, musician, Menace Ruine
84: Steve Lamothe, musician, Menace Ruine
85: Fred Savard, musician, Metis Yeti
86: Matthew Jacob Lederman, musician, Moondata LABprojects
87: Nantali Indongo, Nomadic Massive
88: Modibo Keita, Nomadic Massive
89: Diegal Leger, Nomadic Massive
90: Nicolás Palacios-Hardy, Nomadic Massive
91: Lou Piensa, Nomadic Massive
92: Ralph Joseph, Nomadic Massive
93: Meryem Saci, Nomadic Massive
94: Vox Sambou, Nomadic Massive
95: Jason Selman, Nomadic Massive / Kalmunity Vibe Collective
96: Sébastien Fournier, musician, Panopticon Eyelids
97: Félix Morel, musician, Panopticon Eyelids
98: Nicolas Basque, guitar/voice, Plants and Animals
99: Matthew Woodley, percussionist, Plants and Animals
100: David Bryant, musician, Set Fire to Flames
101: Thierry Amar, musician, Silver Mt. Zion
102: Sophie Trudeau, musician, Silver Mt. Zion
103: Mohamed Masmoudi, musician, Sokoun Trio
104: Greg Napier, musician, Special Noise
105: Jeff Simmons, musician, Special Noise
106: Edward Lee, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
107: Reyrey Castonguay, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
108: Machaulay Culkin, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
109: Amanda Oliver, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
110: Rochelle Ross, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
111: Tasha Zamudio, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
112: Kerri Flannigan, artist, St. Emilie SkillShare
113: Jessie Stein, singer/guitar, The Luyas
114: Yassin Alsalman, musician, the Narcicyst
115: Gern F., singer/guitar, The United Steel Workers of Montreal
116: Martin Cesar, musician, Think About Life
117: Greg Napier, musician, Think About Life
118: Caila Thompson-Hannant, musician, Think About Life
119: Graham Van Pelt, musician, Think About Life
120: Andrea deBruijn, poet, Throw Poetry Collective
121: Alessandra Naccarato, poet, Throw Poetry Collective
122: Merrill Garbus, musician, Tune-Yards
123: Sundus Abdul Hadi, visual artist
124: Jean-Marc Abela, filmmaker
125: Faiz Abhuani, Artivistic collective
126: Paul Ahmarani, actor
127: Mitchell Akiyama, electronic musician, intr. version recordings
128: Patrick Alonso, photographer
129: Hala Alsalman, filmmaker
130: Tito Alvarado, poet, Proyecto Cultural Sur
131: David Arancibia, pianist
132: Sabrien Amrov, photographer
133: Fortner Anderson, poet
134: Tasha Anestopoulos, DJ
135: Daniel Anez, pianist
136: David Arancibia, pianist
137: Amelie Ares, artist
138: Shahrzad Arshadi, artist/photographer
139: Nedaa Asbah, musician
140: Natali Asbah, violinist
141: Maroupi Asbah, violinist
142: Jon Asencio, musician/performance artist
143: Martine Audet, poet
144: Mila Aung-Thwin, Eye Steel Film
145: François Avard, author
146: Shira Avni, filmmaker
147: Magali Babin, electronic music composer
148: Gina Badger, visual artist
149: Rebecca Bain, musician
150: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, filmmaker
151: Kate Bass, visual artist
152: Philippe Battikha, musician
153: Mireya Bayancela, comedian
154: Jonathan Belisle, Transmedia StoryTeller
155: Nabila Ben Youssef, comedian
156: Kamal Benkirane, writer/editor
157: Serge Bérard, writer
158: Patricia Bergeron, film producer
159: David Bernans, author
160: Isabelle Bernier, artist
161: Josué Bertolino, documentary filmmaker
162: Santiago Bertolino, documentary filmmaker
163: Mark Berube, singer, The Patriotic Few
164: Kawtare Bihya, artist
165: Eli Bissonnette, founder Dare to Care Records
166: Pierre-Guy Blanchard, percussionist
167: Julien Boisvert, filmmaker
168: Michel Bonneau, musician
169: Rana Bose, writer
170: Marie Boti, director, Productions Multi-Monde
171: Magda Boukanan, pianist
172: Bachir Boumediene, Eye Steel Film
173: Arnaud Bouquet, documentary filmmaker
174: Marie Brassard, actress/theatre performer
175: Derek Broad, designer
176: Richard Brouillette, filmmaker
177: Marion Brunelle, jazz singer
178: Alexia Bürger, comedian
179: Chris Burns, musician
180: Louise Burns, artist
181: Peter Burton, musician, executive director of Suoni per il Popolo festival
182: Antoine Bustros, pianist/composer
183: César Càceres, visual artist
184: Philippe Cadieux, visual artist
185: Michel Campeau, photographer
186: Olivier Campo, Bar Populaire
187: Daniel Canty, writer/filmmaker
188: Paul Cargnello, singer/songwriter
189: Boban Chaldovich, filmmaker
190: Vincent Champagne, filmmaker
191: Mazen Chamseddine, graphic artist/architect
192: Yung Chang, filmmaker, Up the Yangtze
193: Sarah Charland-Faucher, filmmaker
194: Elsa Charpentier, artist
195: Julie Châteauvert, Dare-Dare art gallery
196: Ghada Chehade, poet
197: Geneviève Chicoine, artist
198: Shayla Chilliak, musician
199: Jordan Christoff, musician
200: Stefan Christoff, pianist/photographer
201: Jacob Cino, music producer/DJ
202: Moe Clark, poet
203: Andrea-Jane Cornell, sound artist
204: Michel F Côté, musician
205: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, filmmaker
206: Mateo Creux, pianist
207: Jean Michel Cropsal, painter
208: Daniel Cross, filmmaker, founder of Eye Steel Film
209: Vincenzo D’Alto, photographer
210: Amy Darwish, artist/dancer
211: Noémie da Silva, photographer
212: Marie Davidson, singer, Les momies de Palerme
213: Mary Ellen Davis, documentary filmmaker
214: Luke Dawson, artist
215: Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, literary translator
216: Étienne de Massy, artist
217: Sylvie de Morais, comedian
218: Lhasa de Sela, singer
219: Julie Delorme, DJ/CKUT host
220: Sophie Deraspe, filmmaker, Les Signes Vitaux
221: Jean Derome, jazz musician
222: Nathalie Derome, interdisciplinary artist
223: Marcelle Deschênes, composer/multimedia artist
224: Robert Deschênes, artist
225: Richard Desjardins, artist
226: Denys Desjardins, filmmaker
227: Keiko Devaux, pianist, the Acorn/People for Audio
228: Omar Dewachi, musician
229: Benoît Dhennin, photographer
230: Nathalie Dion, artist, Zazalie Z
231: Xarah Dion, musician, Ample collective
232: Dominique Lebeau, Domlebo, musician
233: Kim Doré, poet/editor
234: Julie Doucet, comic artist
235: Robyn Dru Germanese, artist
236: Frédéric Dubois, cultural worker
237: Bruno Dubuc, filmmaker
238: Martin Duckworth, documentary filmmaker
239: Philippe Ducros, theatre director, Hotel Motel
240: Katie Earle, artist
241: Marlene Edoyan, filmmaker, Multi-Monde Productions
242: Will Eizlini, musician
243: Hassan El Hadi, musician/singer
244: Majdi El Omari, filmmaker
245: Darren Ell, photographer
246: Nirah Elyza Shirazipour, filmmaker, Eyes Infinite Films
247: Yves Engler, author
248: Bérenger Enselme, Bar Populaire
249: Claudia Espinosa, photographer
250: Tony Ezzy, musician
251: Julie Faubert, visual artist
252: David Fennario, playwright
253: Javier Fernàndez-Rial, pianist
254: Carlos Ferrand, filmmaker
255: Ian Ferrier, poet
256: Riley Fleck, percussionist
257: Arwen Fleming, musician
258: Lindsay Foran, visual artist
259: Andrew Forster, artist
260: Tammy Forsythe, choreographer
261: James Franze, musician
262: Kandis Friesen, visual artist
263: Fanny-Pierre Galarneau, graffiti artist, Aïshaaglyphics
264: Carmen Garcia, film producer
265: Francisco Garcia, artist
266: Brett Gaylor, filmmaker, RIP! A Remix Manifesto
267: Chloé Germain-Thérien, filmmaker/illustrator
268: Christine Ghawi, musician/actress/winner of Gemini Award
269: Olivier Gianolla, painter
270: Peter Gibson, visual artist, Roadsworth
271: Serge Giguère, filmmaker
272: Yan Giguère, artist
273: Dan Gillean, visual artist, Fiver
274: Jason Gillingham, artist
275: Miriam Ginestier, DJ/artistic director of Studio 303
276: Michel Giroux, filmmaker
277: Ernest Godin, producer/filmmaker, Kondololé films
278: Anne Golden, video artist
279: Malcolm Goldstein, violinist/composer
280: Amber Goodwyn, singer, Nightwood
281: Ashley Gould, DJ
282: Janna Graham, sound artist
283: Étienne Grenier, sound artist
284: Neil Griffith, musician
285: Steve Guimond, artistic director of festival Suoni per il Popolo
286: Alexandra Guité, filmmaker
287: Freda Guttman, artist
288: Malcolm Guy, documentary filmmaker, Productions Multi-Monde
289: Tamara Abdul Hadi, photographer
290: Rawi Hage, author
291: Linda Dawn Hammond, photographer
292: Katy Hanna, artist
293: Shannon Harris, documentary filmmaker
294: Tim Hecker, electronic musician
295: Dorothy Henault, documentary filmmaker
296: Anne Henderson, documentary filmmaker
297: Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, contemporary dancer
298: Magnus Isacsson, documentary filmmaker
299: Yuki Isami, musician
300: Naledi Jackson, visual artist
301: Yohan Jager, pianist
302: Stéphane Jaques, theatre director
303: Jocelyn Jean, artist
304: Rodrigue Jean, artist
305: Sandra Jeppesen, poet/professor
306: David Jhave Johnston, poet
307: Sophie Jodoin, visual artist
308: Norsola Johnson, musician
309: Nicole Jolicoeur, artist
310: Sawssan Kaddoura, visual artist
311: Stephan Kazemi, designer
312: Kaie Kellough, poet
313: Arshad Khan, documentary filmmaker
314: Nika Khanjani, filmmaker
315: Maya Khankhoje, writer
316: Valerie Khayat, poet/singer
317: Catherine Kidd, poet
318: Sergeo Kirby, cinema producer, Loaded Pictures
319: Courtney Kirkby, sound artist
320: Aysegul Koc, filmmaker
321: Nick Kuepfer, musician
322: Devlin Kuyek, author
323: Sylvain L’Espérance, cinéaste
324: Danièle Lacourse, cinéaste
325: Stéphane Lahoud, cinéaste
326: Jean-Sébastien Lalumière, cinéaste
327: Ève Lamont, documentary filmmaker
328: Noam Lapid, visual artist
329: Chantale Laplante, composer
330: Rodolphe-Yves Lapointe, artist
331: Monique Laramée, multidisciplinary artist
332: Graham Latham, musician
333: Hugo Latulippe, cinéaste
334: Brian Allen Lipson, musician
335: Klervi Thienpont Lavallée, actress
336: Franck Le Flaguais, artist
337: Sophie Le-Phat Ho, Artivistic collective
338: François Leandre, visual artist
339: Michel Lefebvre, artist/multimedia editor
340: Vincent Lemieux, artist/DJ
341: Jean-François Lessard, writer/composer
342: Anna Leventhal, writer
343: JJ Levine, photographer
344: Mika Lillit Lior, choreographer/dancer
345: Sarah Linhares, singer
346: Paul Litherland, artist
347: Amy Lockhart, filmmaker/artist
348: Guillermo Lopez, cinema editor
349: Jacinthe Loranger, visual artist
350: Ehab Lotayef, poet
351: Lousnak, singer/multidisciplinary artist
352: Caytee Lush, poet
353: Kit Malo, artist
354: Khalid M’Seffar, radio host/DJ
355: Jessica MacCormack, multidisciplinary artist
356: Emmanuel Madan, sound artist
357: Rob Maguire, editor ArtThreat.net
358: Claude Maheu, musician
359: Hernán Maria, musician
360: Omar Majeed, filmmaker, Taqwacore – the Birth of Punk Islam
361: Iphigénie Marcoux-Fortier, filmmaker, Multi-Monde productions
362: Natalie Marshik, artist
363: Billy Mavreas, visual artist
364: Valerian Mazataud, photographer
365: Kirsten McCrea, artist, Papirmasse
366: Taliesin McEnaney, theatre artist
367: Catherine McInnis, artist
368: Meek, electronic musician
369: Feroz Mehdi, filmmaker/activist
370: Elany Mejia, musician
371: Amy Miller, documentary filmmaker
372: Jeff Miller, writer
373: Claude Mongrain, sculptor
374: Émilie Monnet, singer, Odaya
375: Evan Montpellier, musician
376: Vincent Moon, filmmaker
377: Allison Moore, artist
378: Katie Moore, singer/songwriter
379: Jean-Guy Moreau, artist/comedian
380: Dominic Morissette, filmmaker/photographer
381: Nadia Moss, visual artist/musician
382: Krista Muir, musician, Lederhosen Lucil
383: Mehdi Nabti, musician
384: Tyler Nadeau, photographer
385: Dimitri Nasrallah, author
386: Rawane Nassif, filmmaker
387: Pamela Navarrete, artist
388: Norman Nawrocki, musician/author
389: Joshua Noiseux, photographer
390: Kelly Nunes, DJ
391: Alexis O’Hara, multidisciplinary artist
392: Sean O’Hara, founder Alien 8 Recordings
393: Sarah Pagé, musician
394: Cléo Palacio-Quintin, musician/composer
395: Catherine Pappas, documentary filmmaker
396: Marie-Hélène Parant, artist
397: Richard Reed Parry, musician, Bell Orchestre
398: Alain Pelletier, multidisciplinary artist
399: Yann Perreau, singer/songwriter
400: Sara Peters, poet
401: Pierre Petiote, artist
402: Mauro Pezzente, musician, founder Casa del Popolo
403: Alisha Piercy, artist/writer
404: Pierre-Emmanuel Poizat, musician
405: Carole Poliquin, filmmaker
406: Janet Ponce, singer/author/composer
407: Jeannette Pope, filmmaker
408: Rozenn Potin, filmmaker
409: Levana Prud’homme, dancer
410: Jean-François Poupart, writer/professor
411: Thea Pratt, artist
412: Alain G. Pratte, photographer
413: Kern Prophete, hip-hop artist
414: Jesse Purcell, artist, Just Seeds
415: Nelly-Eve Rajotte, artist
416: Anne Ramsden, artist
417: Nada Raphael, documentary photographer
418: Louis Rastelli, author
419: Antonella Ravello, photographer
420: Coire Ready Langham, circus artist
421: Fred Reed, writer
422: Victor Regalado, artist
423: Monique Régimbald-Zieber, artist
424: Alain Reno, illustrator
425: Gisela Restrepo, artist
426: Gerard Reyes, dancer
427: Andrea Rideout, theatre artist
428: Coco Riot, artist
429: Matana Roberts, saxophonist
430: Antoine Rouleau, photographer
431: Guilaine Royer, cultural worker
432: Daïchi Saïto, filmmaker
433: Trish Salah, poet
434: Babak Salari, photographer
435: Samian, hip-hop artist
436: Miriam Sampaio, multidisciplinary artist
437: Marjolaine Samson, artist
438: Julian Samuel, artist/writer
439: Ariel Santana, artist
440: Claire Savoie, artist
441: Dorothy Saykaly, contemporary dancer
442: Patti Schmidt, radio host/cultural commentator
443: Anita Schoepp, artist/musician
444: Nadia Seboussi, artist
445: Fran Sendbuehler, graphic artist
446: Marcel Sévigny, author
447: Sam Shalabi, musician/composer
448: Nik Barry-Shaw, writer
449: Eric Shragge, author/professor
450: Bridget Simpson, musician
451: Michelle Smith, documentary filmmaker, Productions Multi-Monde
452: Prem Sooriyakumar, filmmaker
453: Jennifer Spiegel, writer
454: Laurel Sprengelmeyer, artist, Little Scream
455: Darlene St. Georges, art educator
456: Alexandre St-Onge, sound artist/musician
457: Allison Staton, photographer
458: Victoria Stanton, performance artist
459: Gab Perry Stensson, artist
460: Martha Stiegman, documentary filmmaker/author
461: Kiva Stimac, visual artist, founder Casa del Popolo
462: Brett Story, filmmaker
463: John W. Stuart, graphic designer/writer
464: Caroline Tagny, graphic artist
465: Roger Tellier-Craig, musician
466: Vincent Tinguely, poet/writer
467: Juan Toro, musician
468: Tanya Tree, documentary filmmaker
469: Benoît Tremblay, artist
470: Philippe Tremblay-Berberi, filmmaker
471: Gisèle Trudel, artist, Ælab
472: Svetla Turnin, executive director of Cinema Politica
473: André Turpin, cinéaste
474: Armand Vaillancourt, painter/sculptor
475: Rufo Valencia, writer/poet
476: Sylvie Van Brabant, filmmaker
477: Niek van de Steeg, artist
478: Francis Van Den Heuvel, filmmaker
479: Rahul Varma, theatre director, Teesri Duniya Theatre
480: Chris Vaughn, violinist, Free Benny Meanz
481: Adrian Vedady, jazz musician
482: Felipe Verdugo, pianist
483: Sebastián Verdugo, pianist
484: Stefan Verna, documentary filmmaker
485: Gilles Vigneault, artist
486: Sam Vipond, musician
487: Tamara Vukov, filmmaker/academic
488: Shannon Walsh, documentary filmmaker
489: Francesca Waltzing, artist
490: Erin Weisgerber, sound artist
491: David Widgington, journalist/filmmaker
492: Ezra Winton, founder Cinema Politica
493: Britt Wray, artist
494: Gary Worsley, founder Alien 8 Recordings
495: Dexter X, filmmaker/musician
496: Eileen Young, visual artist
497: Karen Young, singer/songwriter
498: Kevin Yuen Kit Lo, graphic designer
499: Michael Zaidan, filmmaker
500: Kim Zombik, singer

Photo by Filippo Minelli.

Link to the original post.

Tags: apartheid, BDS Movement, Boycott, Canada, israel, Middle East, Montreal, occupation, Palestine

 

So what kind of crazed masochist would you have to be to watch a trilogy -- yes, not one, not two, but three! -- movies about serial killings and police corruption in 1970s-80s Yorkshire, England? Um -- this kind, actually. Throw Prime Suspect-quality drama, NYPD Blueish back-room personal twists, and James Ellroy-type period-embedded corruption plotting into a blender. Add a pinch of Hannibal Lecter perv-homicidal weirdness and a dash of Brit-indy social commentary. Use top-quality ingredients -- superb directors, writers, actors, cinematographers. And, ta-da!,  you've got Red Riding, the riveting trio of films based on novelist Donald Peace's Red Riding Quartet, which is itself partly inspired by the real case of the Yorkshire Ripper. Those tallying baby-sitting budgets might have a hard time with this, but going for the whole Wagnerian experience and making a triple feature out of it, followed perhaps by an ambiance-furthering pint or four at the local pub afterward, would be one way to go for the hard-core method cinephile. It would certainly concentrate the mind on this Yorkshire blood pudding a little more effectively than seeing it in several stages, as Britain's TV audience did. Down side, of course, is that it might drive you 'round the bend. A real explication of the plot would require a Playbill sized opera-worthy scenario (or, better yet, four novels). But in short, each of the three films focuses on a year, sometimes with a little preliminary or intermittent flashback framing to tie together the action's truths and consequences. In Red Riding: 1974, a cocky young Yorkshire Post reporter, Eddie Dunford (an affable but intense Andrew Garfield), gets his big break when he's promoted to the crime beat in the torrent of the Ripper's killing spree.  Competing with and sabotaging him is an older hack reporter, Jack Whitehead (a splendidly sleazy Eddie Marsan). Whitehead's opposite is an idealistic, conspiracy-obsessed reporter named Barry Gannon (Anthony Flanagan). Gannon, who meets with the proverbial unfortunate accident, turns out to have been gathering evidence of a conspiracy involving the cops and a bullying big-shot land developer, John Dawson (Sean Bean, suave and scary in a faux-mellow 70s way -- dig those turtlenecks). In the course of his investigation, Dunford falls for one of the missing girls' mum, Paula Garland (a lovely, terrified Rebecca Hall), who has a submissive relationship with Dawson. Dunford realizes, with the help of some horrific beatings at the hands of cop-thugs, that he's in way over his head, and seeks help from one of the apparently clean officers on the force. In Red Riding: 1980, an outside investigator, Peter Hunter -- Patty Considine, who fabulously fuses good-cop dignity with a tough internal-affairs mien and hang-dog exhaustion -- is assigned to whip the West Yorkshire department's Ripper investigation into shape and, more threateningly and clandestinely, poke into its departmental mishandling of the case. Stalwart locals like Officer Bob Craven (Sean Harris, memorably combustible) are, to say the least, not pleased about, and not helpful in, Hunter's inquiries, including his suspicions that at least one of the murders attributed to the Ripper was a copy-cat crime with links to unsanctioned, unsavory constabulary extracurriculars. An ill-judged but tender affair between Hunter and his colleague Helen (Maxine Peake, at once brittle and tough), gives Hunter's foes a little kindling for their vengeful fires when he follows his lines of inquiry further than they're comfortable with. Hunter at one point asks West Yorkshire Constabulary brass Maurice Jobson (David Morrissey, in a finely tuned taciturn performance) how high up the rot of corruption goes. Jobson doesn't answer, but events begin to and Hunter becomes the hunted. A conscience-stricken Jobson returns as the central character in the concluding Red Riding: 1983. A new murder casts doubt on the conviction not just of the Ripper but of another accused killer, the mentally challenged Michael Myshkin (Daniel Mays). A down at the heels local lawyer, John Piggott -- Mark Addy is wonderfully endearing as the corpulent but principled sad sack -- is working at cross-purposes to Jobson, yet the men have professional concerns in common. Circling the action in all three installments are not only the menacing cops but a mysterious, charismatic local minister, Martin Laws (an ingratiatingly magnetic Peter Mullan), and a young street hustler nicknamed BJ (a cowed and grubbily angelic Robert Sheehan). The films are definitely all of a piece, but they each have a different director and their approaches are appropriately somewhat varied. Julian Jarrold helms the first with smokey atmospherics. You can practically smell the tobacco, stout, and sweat of those shabby 70s bars and newsrooms, and the patchouli and the wine-spritzer bubbles of John Dawson's swingin' parties. In the second film, James Marsh brings us to 1980 with a blast of clean, capitalistic, yuppie fresh air. It's all spiffy suits, outdoor encounters, and snappy office manner, even when the language is way off color and it's clear that everyone wants to kill someone. Anand Tucker brings the trilogy home with slightly artsier flare, befitting a plot that's spinning mesmerizingly toward mayhem, complete with a psychic love interest (a beguiling Saskia Reeves). The three films, all sparely but subtly written by Tony Grisoni, are not for the squeamish -- there are, according to the Red Riding crew, an awful lot of hideous beatings amid the rolling Yorkshire hills. The story is sad and dour, with love and beneficence perched precariously atop a heap of bestial appetites. Even Red Riding's heroes are damnably weak. But that they're heroes nonetheless, in the thin air of this engrossing trilogy's lurid moral caverns, is a heartening tentative flicker of light.

The two-day California Interscholastic Federation Wrestling Championships begin at 9 a.m. Friday at Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena. Saturday's weight-division finals are scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

THE LIST

Jake Briggs of Bella Vista High School will make his fourth trip to the California Interscholastic Federation Wrestling Championships. Although he enters the tournament with a 49-1 record and is the state's top-ranked 135-pounder, he will wrestle at 140 pounds. Before leaving for Bakersfield, Briggs gave us a list of three things that makes the state meet different from any other tournament:

1. You have all the best guys in the state at the same tournament. At some tournaments, any schools can send wrestlers, but at state it's literally the best guys. There are no slouches.

2. It's one of the most anticipated meets of the season. It's the only one you talk about. It's always, 'How'd you do at state?'

3. The atmosphere is crazy. You bring your level up a notch because everyone is watching. It's something else to be there.

– Jeff Caraska

AREA QUALIFIERS

103

• Robin Davis, Christian Brothers

• Connor Pollock, Folsom

• Victor Trujillo, Bella Vista

112

• Grant Burkhalter, Bella Vista

• Alex Greybill, Ponderosa

• Martin Ramirez, Elk Grove

• Tyler Szura, Nevada Union

119

• Tim Ditrich, Ponderosa

• Isaiah Hurtado, Sheldon

• Jacob Purdy, Nevada Union

• Shayne Tucker, Bella Vista

125

• Eric Meredith, Sheldon

• Peter Santos, Woodcreek

• Cody Tow, Union Mine

• Auston Wulfert, Casa Roble

130

• Austin Branum, Del Oro

• Dylan Jankovich, Roseville

• Keaton Subjeck, Oak Ridge

135

• Adam Blank, River Valley

• Josh Dawson, Oak Ridge

• Nazir Rasooli, Whitney

• Sean Tow, Union Mine

140

• Laith Alnassiri, Sheldon

• Jake Briggs, Bella Vista

• Kevin Burrage, Del Oro

• Robin Callas, Nevada Union

• Shawn Porter, Elk Grove

• Jesse Routsong, Ponderosa

• Anthony Vega, Lindhurst

145

• Foster Fretland, Del Oro

• Tommy Williams, Rocklin

152

• Trevor Painter, Nevada Union

• Jesse Romero, El Dorado

• Jesse Stafford, Del Oro

160

• Tylar Clarke, Elk Grove

• Drake Dorowski, El Camino

• Vince Waldhauser, Oak Ridge

171

• Dillon Fader, Folsom

• Austin Wilson, Mesa Verde

189

• Matt Dakin, Elk Grove

• Lyndell Scarr, Ponderosa

215

• Paul Buchanan, Ponderosa

• Mike Corcoran, Sheldon

• Dylan Orr, Christian Brothers

285

• Gavin Andrews, Granite Bay

• Peter Anguiano, Franklin

• Ethan Driver, Pioneer

• Daniel Gusev, Center

• Lefi Letuligasenoa, Elk Grove

Source: cifsjs.org

SOME MAT CRED

Eight area wrestlers will begin their quest for state gold with the cachet of a state ranking. According to the latest rankings from thecaliforniawrestler.com, Bella Vista's Jake Briggs is the No. 1-ranked 135-pounder (he has since moved up to 140 pounds). Other area wrestlers with state rankings: Jesse Stafford of Del Oro is ranked second at 152 pounds; Franklin's Peter Anguiano is ranked fourth at 285 and Center's Daniel Gusev fifth; Vince Waldhauser of Oak Ridge is fifth-ranked at 160; at 119 pounds, Sheldon's Isaiah Hurtado is seventh and Jacob Purdy of Nevada Union eighth. Also ranked eighth is Cody Tow (125) of Union Mine.

– Jeff Caraska

Ron Andrews, CEO of Clarient, Inc., discusses his company with William Dawson of LifeTech Capital at the 2010 OneMedForum in San Francisco.

Jim Byrnes will play on Saturday night August 7th, 2010 at the Rarearth Music Fest www.rarearthmusicfest.com along with Jazz, Gospel and Blues Artist Maria Muldaur, local Artists Andrew Allen and Sherman (Tank) Doucette , from Australia, The Mason Rack Band, the Legendary Canadian Singer-Songwriter Barney Bentall and David Gogo to name a few ...

Early Bird Weekend Passes now available at www.ticketseller.ca

Multi-Juno Award winning blues and roots artist Jim Byrnes, started with the piano at aged five and by thirteen years old Jim was singing and playing blues on his favourite guitar the Gibson 1969 Hummingbird. As a young man he studied acting at Boston and St. Louis Universities. American born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri – blues country, now a long time resident now in Canada, he is recognized by most of us, not just for his blues recordings, but for his voice in animated series ‘Dragon Warrier’, his original song, “Hands of a Stranger” written for ‘Wiseguy’ filmed in Vancouver. He co-starred in numerous movies and was nominated for a Genie for ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ for his work in “Harmony Cats” and in 1996 won the Leo for “Best Actor in a TV Drama” for his work in Hylander.

In 1981 he formed ‘The Jim Byrnes Band’ and became a well-known staple of the Vancouver Music scene. The band released 3 albums, “Burnin”, “I Turned My Nights Into Days”, and “That River”. In 1996 he won the Juno for Best Blues/Gospel Album for “That River”.

In January of 2007, the Toronto Blues Society announced the 2006 Maple Blues Award to him for Male Vocalist of the Year as well as Recording of the Year for ‘House of Refuge). You’ll find Jim still working and filming in episodes like ‘The Twilight Zone”, “The Dead Zone”, and “Just Cause” as well as doing voice for commercials and cartoons, but he continues to work on his beloved musical career.

‘My Walking Stick’ is the latest blood and guts, behind your knees, love, life, death and after life release by Jim Byrnes, produced by Steve Dawson. ‘My Walking Stick’ finds them building on the blues roots of 2004’s Fresh Horses and 2006’s gospel tinged Juno Award winning House of Refuge as they continue exploring gospel, blues, rockabilly, and country. The opening track ‘Ol Rattler’ digs in and never lets go and the same can be said for the entire album.

The Rarearth Music Fest is proud to have such an accomplished, highly respected, singer-songwriter and actor for August 7th, 2010.

Check website for updates www.rarearthmusic.com

Website www.jamestbyrnes.com/ www.jimbyrnes.org

Heavy with gloom and so pervasively violent that a single misstep might have reduced it to macabre comedy, Red Riding: 1974 has the feeling of a nightmare. This is no accident.

Director Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) favors his lighting dim and his skies oppressively bleak, mitigated only by illuminating flashes so brilliant as to be blinding. If they seem to suggest a break from the grim reality of Tony Grisoni’s story, about a journalist investigating a series of child murders in Yorkshire, the illusion is fleeting. At no time is 1974, the first episode of the Red Riding trilogy released last year for BBC television, anything close to cheery

If the movie’s pervading sense of impending doom is laid on so thick it’s suffocating, Jarrold is aided and abetted by Grisoni’s glum screenplay, faithfully adapted from David Peace’s historically inspired 1999 novel. Jarrold is more successful in creating a mood than in piecing together a coherent narrative – 1974 is all feverish paranoia, justified, as it turns out, by the bogeymen Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield, of Lions for Lambs) is hunting – but the feeling stays with you.

Dunford is cut from the same cloth as another fictional investigator, Philip Marlowe – smart, underachieving and usually on the receiving end of a punch, or worse. He is apathetic at the start, assessing the victims he’s writing about as little more than front-page fodder. In the brutal slaying of a young girl he sees a career opportunity. But her tragedy of, and that of all the people whose lives are irreparably shattered by the whims of a monster, soon becomes his foremost concern.

Drowning in a rising tide of blood, he seeks the source, and finds men of privilege protected by crooked cops. He resists their warnings to look the other way – his indignation, once aroused, is a consuming obsession. He attacks his job with the tenacity of a pit bull, albeit one that can’t win a fight.

Yet toothless he’s not. Like Marlowe, Dunford is clever enough to throw a scare into the demons he’s chasing, including John Dawson, a slick, sadistic power broker played with reptilian charm by Sean Bean. But if there is a lesson to be gleaned from the Red Riding trilogy, it is that good intentions are an express ticket to the grave. With the police in their pockets, men like Dawson are shielded from justice. There is no room for heroes in their dens of corruption.

That much becomes clearer in James Marsh’s 1980, in which an outside investigator, suspicious of the West Yorkshire detectives whose company he reluctantly keeps, arrives from Manchester to examine another botched case, inching closer to the truth but unable to bring it to light.

Peter Hunter (Paddy Considine, of The Bourne Ultimatum) isn’t the punching bag that Dunford is – he is afforded a veneer of professional courtesy by most of his colleagues, though one of them, a defiantly obstinate thug named Bob Craven (Sean Harris), lets him know he’s not welcome. Hunter takes over the search for the notorious Yorkshire Ripper, behind whose 13 real-life murders the police have been hiding some of their own, but the investigator’s efforts are derailed prematurely by a well-organized smear campaign.

The Ripper is apprehended, with Hunter relegated to the sidelines, but even this is a hollow victory. Yorkshire continues to decay from within, and the rogue cops responsible remain unaccountable.

Marsh depicts their transgressions in a fashion far more straightforward than Jarrold’s, and for that we can be grateful: If 1974 establishes the trilogy’s tone, 1980 helps us make sense of Grisoni’s story. Critical details emerge, characters previously in the shadows step to the forefront, and at last we begin to understand what Dunford and Hunter are up against – the unchecked depravity of men drunk with power and driven by greed, who will stop at nothing to conceal their crimes.

The trilogy’s third act, 1983, is a similarly unvarnished affair, directed by Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie), and for the first time we sense cause for hope. Can the righteous – embodied here by an unkempt lawyer (Mark Addy, of The Full Monty) and a dirty cop (David Morrissey) whose conscience compels him to take a stand – stem the tide of corruption? Even after so much bloodshed, it seems strangely possible.

The last chapter deals with another child murder, similar to the so-called Moors murders documented in 1974, and some begin to suspect that the man convicted of those earlier killings might have been goaded into a false confession. John Piggott (Addy) effectively reopens the case, and though his fact-finding techniques are neither as savvy as Hunter’s nor as dogged as Dunford’s, he gets results.

Joining his cause, however hesitantly, is Maurice Jobson (Morrissey), a high-ranking policeman whose tolerance for brutality has been exhausted. He stymies Piggott at first, clinging to the lies he’s been selling for nearly a decade, but his heart is no longer in it. In an eleventh-hour bid for redemption, he sets out in pursuit of a well-connected predator who, after drifting in and out of the story until now, reveals his amoral depths in 1983.

Rarely has human misery arrived in such a handsome package. Taken individually, the Red Riding movies are as stylish and morbidly enthralling as they are repellent; together, the parts add up to an immensely satisfying whole. (As a stand-alone, 1974 works best, though 1980 is ultimately more rewarding, and loaded with bigger surprises.) It’s doubtful audiences will tolerate such a sobering ride over five-plus hours, though viewing the films in succession is the most efficient way to navigate their many twists and turns.

The performances in all three movies are uniformly impressive, with Garfield, Considine and Morrissey skillfully anchoring their respective chapters. Other standouts include Bean, who has a gift for playing villains both seductive and deadly, and Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) who plays a grieving mother forced into a most compromising position in 1974.

Those electing to view the movies via cable’s IFC On Demand should consider taking advantage of closed captioning. The Yorkshire accents are thick and sometimes difficult to understand, particularly in 1974, the murkiest of the three thrillers even without the added complication of a language barrier. By the time we arrive at 1983’s rousing climax, the intricacies of Peace and Grisoni’s stories have been powerfully illuminated, and we are left to contemplate their messy aftermath, emotionally battered but relieved to have reached the light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Red Riding: 1974 is now playing at the Lumiere Theatre in San Francisco and the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley. It is available to cable subscribers via IFC On Demand.

The nominees for the second annual Streamy Awards were revealed in a live webcast today. The Streamys are awarded to web TV series by the International Academy of Web Television — they’re similar to the Oscars, Emmys or Grammys.

Nominees were selected from 190,000 public submissions spanning 2,000 shows and 130 countries. There are 15 categories with five nominees in each. We’ve listed them all below, but there are a few items that are particularly notable.

Both Crackle’s The Bannen Way and Felicia Day’s The Guild lead the nominees with seven nominations each; The Bannen Way is nominated for best drama, and The Guild is nominated for best comedy. Easy to Assemble is just behind with six nominations, and Next New Networks’s YouTube viral hit Auto-Tune the News is up for four awards.

The main Streamy ceremony will take place on April 11 in Hollywood, California; the Craft Awards will be given out on the April 7. We’ll be in attendance, so don’t change that dial — or don’t switch to another web stream.

In the meantime, we’ll be covering the world of web television more closely than we have in the past. Each month we work with video analytics company Visible Measures to put out a chart listing the top 10 most popular web series, and we’ve written up a beginner’s guide to made-for-Internet TV with some samples of the best shows. We also have a list of companies that are reinventing TV online. More to come!

And the nominees are…

Overall Series

Best Comedy Web Series

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

Easy to Assemble

The Guild

The Legend of Neil

Wainy Days

Best Drama Web Series

Angel of Death

Compulsions

OzGirl

The Bannen Way

Valemont

Best Hosted Web Series

A Comicbook Orange

Diggnation

Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

Know Your Meme

The Totally Rad Show

Best Reality or Documentary Web Series

Interview Project

Mommy XXX

RADAR

Streak to Win

The Secret Life of Scientists

Best News or Politics Web Series

Auto-Tune the News

Rocketboom

The Tomorrow Show with Mo Rocca

The Young Turks

VBS News

Best Foreign Web Series

Flying Kebab

Girl Number 9

Noob

OzGirl

Riese

Best New Web Series

$5 Cover: Memphis

Girl Number 9

Odd Jobs

Old Friends

The Bannen Way

Best Companion Web Series

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage

Dexter: Early Cuts

Harper’s Globe

The Office: Subtle Sexuality

Weeds: University of Andy

Best Animated Web Series

Eli’s Dirty jokes

Happy Tree Friends

Homestar Runner

How It Should Have Ended

Zero Punctuation

Best Branded Entertainment Web Series

Back on Topps (Topps)

Brainstorm (Altoids)

Easy to Assemble (IKEA)

Parts Art (Lexus)

The Temp Life (Spherion)

Best Experimental Web Series

Auto-Tune the News

Green Porno

HBO Cube

INST MSGS

Level 26

Directing

Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series

Blue Movies (Scott Brown)

Dorm Life: Semester 2 (Chris Smith, Mark Stewart Iverson)

James Gunn’s PG Porn (James Gunn)

The Guild (Sean Becker)

The Legend of Neil (Sandeep Parikh)

Best Directing for a Drama Web Series

Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)

Compulsions (Bernie Su)

Girl Number 9 (Andrew Black, Lawrence Frank, Brent Friedman, Joshua Stern, Jacqueline Zambrano)

The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)

Young American Bodies (Joe Swanberg)

Writing

Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series

Back on Topps (Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Eric Friedman, Matt Price)

Dorm Life (Chris Smith, Jordan Riggs, Jessie Gaskell, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Brian Singleton, Mark Stewart Iverson)

The Legend of Neil (Tony Janning, Sandeep Parikh)

The Guild (Felicia Day)

Wainy Days (David Wain)

Best Writing for a Drama Web Series

Anyone But Me (Susan Miller, Tina Cesa Ward)

Compulsions (Bernie Su)

Girl Number 9 (James Moran)

The Bannen Way (Jesse Warren, Mark Gantt)

Valemont (Christian Taylor)

Acting

Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Zach Galifianakis (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis)

Tony Hale (CTRL)

Amir Blumenfeld (Jake and Amir)

Sandeep Parikh (The Guild)

David Wain (Wainy Days)

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Ileana Douglas (Easy to Assemble)

Justine Bateman (Easy to Assemble)

Joanna Cassidy (Sex Ed)

Felicia Day (The Guild)

Lisa Kudrow (Web Therapy)

Best Male Actor in a Drama Series

Craig Frank (Compulsions)

Robert Englund (Fear Clinic)

Joe Absolom (Girl Number 9)

Mark Gantt (The Bannen Way)

Eric Balfour (Valemont)

Best Female Actor in a Drama Series

Zoe Bell (Angel of Death)

Rachel Hip-Flores (Anyone But Me)

Tatyani Ali (Buppies)

Sophie Tilson (OzGirl)

Crystal Chappell (Venice)

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series

Black on Topps (Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar, Jason Nash, Janet Varney, Stephanie Courtney, Brian Huskey, Phil LaMarr)

Dorm Life (Nora Kirkpatrick, Hannah Pearl Utt, Anne Lane, Jessie Gaskell, Brian Singleton, Jack De Sena, Jim Brandon, Jordan Riggs, Pancho Morris)

Easy to Assemble (Illeanna Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)

GOLD (Robert J. Brewer, James Paul Xavier, Nathan Mobley, Rick Robinson, David Nett, Gary Karp, Shannon Ivey, Alan Loayza, Shannon Nelson, Jeremy Guskin, Angela Schnaible)

The Guild (Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen)

Best Guest Star in a Web Series

Chris Hardwick (Back on Topps)

Nathan Fillion (PG Porn)

“Weird Al” Yankovic (Know Your Meme)

Wil Wheaton (The Guild)

Courtney Cox (Web Therapy)

Best Web Series Host

Alex Albrecht (Diggnation)

Zadi Diaz (Epic Fu)

Kevin Pollak (Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show)

Kristyn Burtt (The Web.Files)

Michael Buckley (What the Buck?)

Best Vlogger

Brigitte Dale (Brigitte Dale)

iJustine (iJustine)

Philip DeFranco (sxePhil)

Shane Dawson (ShaneDawsonTV)

Shira Lazar (Shira Lazar)

Craft Awards

Best Editing in a Web Series

$5 Cover: Memphis (Nathan Black, Morgan Jon Fox, Josh Swain)

Angel of Death (Jochen Kunstler, Jacob Vaughan)

Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

I Kissed a Vampire (David Bekoff)

The Bannen Way (Zach Arnold)

Best Cinematography in a Web Series

Angel of Death (Carl Herse)

Circle of Eight (Michael Lohmann)

LUMINA (XiaoSu Han, Andreas Thalhammer)

Mountain Man (Robert Lam)

Riese (Christopher Charles Kempinski)

Best Art Direction in a Web Series

$99 Music Videos (Kit Pennebaker)

Green Porno (Rick Gilbert)

Mountain Man (Matt Enlow)

Riese (Chad Krowchuk)

Tiki Bar TV (Kim Bailey)

The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Sound Design in a Web Series

Fear Clinic (Kunal Rajan)

Mountain Man (Michael Miller)

Riese (Bill Mellow, Kevin Belen)

Rockville, CA (Seth Talley)

The Vetala (Randy Kiss)

Best Visual Effects in a Web Series

Backyard FX (Erik Beck)

Fear Clinic (Jason M Bergman, Nicholas Onstad, Bethany Pederson, David Dang)

Mordy Koots (Reece Sanders, Clayton Jacobson)

Safety Geeks: SVI (Thor Melsted, Mike Smith)

The Crew (Jeff Bell, Zack Finfrock, Brett Register)

Best Animation in a Web Series

College Humor: Hardly Working (Dan Meth)

Happy Tree Friends (David Winn, Alan Lau, Jason Sadler, Brad Rau, Roque Bollestros, Paul Allan, Nica Lorber, Michael Lipman)

How It Should Have Ended (Daniel Baxter, Tommy Watson, Tina Alexander)

Inventions (Chris Weller, David Lamps)

theGoob (Magnus Jansson)

Best Original Music in a Web Series

Auto-Tune the News (Evan Gregory, Andrew Gregory, Michael Gregory)

Horrible Turn (Chance McClain, Kevin Ryan, Frank Bullington, Jeremy Botter)

Key of Awesome (Mark Douglas)

Sparhusen (Rob Mailhouse, Todd Spahr, Illeana Douglas)

The Coat (Thierry Chaze)

Best Live Production in a Web Series

Coin-Op TV Live

Fantasy Football Live!

Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show

The RadNerd Show

TWiT.tv

Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series

Circle of Eight

I

• Another day, another John Mayer apology. He told the audience at his sold-out Madison Square Garden show last night, "I hate to come off like an asshole ever, and thank you guys for believing that I am not an asshole..."

• He continued, "Never, ever in my entire life did I ever think that it would be a good idea to be an asshole. But you know what? There's plenty of assholes who think the same thing, so I have to thank you." He added, "It's a clean me now, people, clean me." [Us]
• Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold remembered their former Growing Pains co-star Andrew Koenig, who was found yesterday after committing suicide. "It is with great sorrow to hear about the final outcome of the search for my old friend Andrew," said Cameron. "I hope everyone will be sensitive to the Koenigs and give the family some private time to reflect and to grieve the loss of their beloved son. At a time like this, we are all reminded of the briefness of life and the importance of being ready for our eternal destination. My prayers will continue to be with Andrew's family." Gold added, "Today is a sad day. My heart is broken for Andrew's family. I have such great memories of Andrew and our time together on Growing Pains." [Us]
• Brittany Murphy's husband Simon Monjack says that when he and her mother read her final autopsy report yesterday they, "both sobbed and sobbed. I haven't gotten out of bed yet. I pulled the report away from Sharon because I thought I was going to have to sedate her." However, he says he found "solace" in the report that she hadn't taken any illegal drugs. "She never did anything that she was accused of!" he said. "We never hid anything. And that's been the case with everything in our marriage. Maybe with her death, people will start to realize - yes, we had a lot of prescriptions around, but if you look at some of them, they date from 2001!" [Us]
• Gary Coleman suffered a seizure this morning on the set of The Insider and was rushed to the hospital. Dr. Drew Pinsky was on the set as well and he helped Coleman until paramedics arrived. [TMZ]
• On Twitter today, Lily Allen claimed her argument with Courtney Love at the NME Awards earlier this week wasn't a "bust up" but an "exchange of words." Allen explains, "She's upset because she has got it into her head that I put a lock on some dresses for the Brit Awards. When I saw her at the NME's she tried to talk to me and I told her to shut up and stop spreading stupid rumours about me and that's pretty much it. I would never with with her. As a rule i don't pick on crazy old ladies." Then she referred to Love as a "paranoid drug addled lunatic." [Daily Mail]
• Debra Danielson, who allegedly choked Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, struck a plea deal today. She agreed to a deferred prosecution, so if she has no other legal issues and complies with her probation, the case will be dropped. [TMZ]
• Grace Jones will perform at Elton John's AIDS Foundation Academy Award Viewing Party in L.A. "Grace Jones is not only an amazing performer, but a dear friend and a fellow activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said John. "It is an absolute honor to have Grace as part of this evening that means so much to the foundation." [UPI]
• U2 tops Billboard's 2010 Money Makers list for earning more than $108 million last year on their "360 Degrees" tour. Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, AC/DC, and Britney Spears are also in the top five. [USA Today]
• Apparently we're supposed to find it scandalous that Rosario Dawson went to a burlesque show starring transsexual Amanda Lepore, who appeared in Party Monster. [The Sun]
• Kylie Minogue presented Coventry University student Emma McGann with the StudyVOx FM Music Award, then watched the 19-year-old singer perform. [The Star]
• Anita Baker finally worked out an agreement with her ex-husband to determine how much he is owed in music royalties in their divorce settlement, and avoided being held in contempt of court and jailed. [AP]
• A Facebook page made to promote Snooki's upcoming appearance at James Madison University had to be taken down when student started posting racist remarks, so now students have created another page called "Stay Off My Campus Snooki" to fill with crude comments. [Radar]
• Here's a recorded voicemail from the guy Jon Cryer's wife allegedly asked to kill him. Cryer's ex's lawyer says it proves she's innocent, but we're guessing possibly-edited recordings posted on TMZ aren't admissible in court. [TMZ]
• Possible Lost spoiler alert: At a party last night Michael Emerson said, "You'll see the biggest Ben episode ever in the next two weeks. It's a big one, and it may be the last one of the Ben episodes...it's worth watching." [E!]
• Brooke Shields hopes her daughters don't follow in her footsteps. "For their sake, I hope they don't. There's a lot of pressure. As long as they get an education, they can do whatever they want. If they need my help, I'll try, but I hope they find other interests," she said. [Daily Express]
• Colin Farrell said of his early days in Hollywood, "I wanted to show that I was proud of my Irishness - and I kind of felt I was presenting that side of me. But I was doing it in the most cliched way possible. It's like (what) Ricky Gervais (said) at the Golden Globes. He announced to the audience that he hates cliches, especially about Irish people being drunk, and then he said, 'Ladies and gentleman, here's Colin Farrell!' But it's what I was and what I did... (I felt) if I'm not going to take advantage of this experience, then they should give it to somebody else. The way (fame) happened for me was insane. Everyone was fighting to get me into a film. It was mad and it defied any contemplation. I just enjoyed it as I came." [Daily Express]
• Daniel Radcliffe filmed a PSA for The Trevor Project, an organization that works to prevent suicide among LGBT youth. "I grew up knowing a lot of gay men and it was never something that I even thought twice about - that some men were gay and some weren't," says Radcliffe. "And then I went to school and (for) the first time ... I came across homophobia. ... I had never encountered it before. It shocked me. I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals... Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it." [AP]

• Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis: A "very smelly couple."

A "source" says: "Johnny usually smells because he rarely showers. He isn't big on personal cleanliness and Vanessa isn't much different. They found their perfect match in each other — it's hard to be around them.  Their personal hygiene is not their priority." If this were about anyone else, it would be gross, but because it's them, I am assuming all that French funk is super sexy. Carry on. [News.com.au]

• It's official: Simon Cowell is engaged. [Radar Online]
• Is Lindsay Lohan sorta stalking Samantha Ronson ? LL went to a club where Sam was DJing and requested a table near the DJ booth. Samantha ignored her. The next night, Lindsay went to a different club where Sam was spinning and hung around late into the night. "She wouldn't leave, and at the end of the night, you could tell she was waiting for Sam," a source says. Sam ignored her. [Access Hollywood]
• Breaking: Jessica Alba ate a burger. [People]
• Avril Lavigne and her ex-husband, Deryck Whibley, had the audacity to share a car as they left an Alice In Wonderland party last night. The paper copy reads: "And while they weren't caught in a steamy embrace, it certainly looked as if relations between the two were on good terms." Well stop the presses! [Daily Mail]
• Mark Ronson is collaborating with Boy George? I predict a hit. [The Sun]
• Terry O'Quinn — Lost's Locke/Smoke Monster — is shopping around a show that would pair him up with Michael Emerson (Ben). They'd play suburban hit men juggling family issues. [TV Guide]
• The cast of Glee did a fashion shoot for the March issue of Elle, and there's a behind-the-scenes video at the link, with Rachel, Quinn, Mercedes and the gang in glittery high-fashion duds. [LA Times]
• Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson are selling their house in L.A. and relocating to NYC. Looking forward to seeing you guys on the F train! [Gatecrasher]
• Howard Stern will not, repeat, NOT, be the new American Idol judge. [Deadline Hollywood]
• After 29 years, Barbara Walters is ending her famed Oscars special. But her last show should be good: She'll sit down with "frontrunners" Sandra Bullock and Mo'Nique. Babs will still do "Most Fascinating People" because "that's more varied." But she says: "If I were Tiger Woods, I wouldn't do an interview. He's made his statement. I think the most important thing for him is to get his life back. To discuss this woman and that woman would not be helpful to his life or his personal health." [Us Magazine]
• Bono was having dinner and the restaurant didn't have Perrier, so a waiter ran across the street to a store and bought him a bottle… the paper is calling this "diva demands." but it just seems like really great service. [Gatecrasher]
• By the by, Bono's deal with Palm smartphones is not working out so great. [NY Post]
• Lily Allen will perform this summer even though she is taking a break from music, because Jay-Z asked her to be the supporting act at London's Wireless festival. But she says: ''I'm having a career change for a while. I'm concentrating on something else. I'd like to get my brand and my shop going, and then if it does well, we'll definitely think about branching out on our own label." [Telegraph]
• Tiger Woods has successfully gotten PETA to stop using his image on billboards: a spokesperson for PETA says: "We agreed and have now turned the focus of our campaign to Mark Sanford." [Page Six]
• Nadya Suleman went out clubbing, did shots, and got a shout-out from the DJ, who yelled, "Octomom in the building!" [Page Six]
• Susan Boyle's brother claims that the singer needs "24 hour care." And: "The travelling and the whole [fame] thing is exhausting. She still has her anxieties and her loneliness… She needs to be looked after." [Daily Mail]
• Ramona Singer threw a premiere party for the new season of RHONY but Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon and LuAnn de Lesseps were not to be found. LuAnn was having her own party, but a source says: "There's a clear split between the cast, and you can definitely see it by who decided to attend Ramona's party." [Gatecrasher]
• Bethenny Frankel says taping Housewives without booze was an "achievment." "It was like being in the desert without water," the pregnant lady claims. "But now I have all these delusions that I will continue my sobriety forever." [Us Magazine]
• You're in the wrong biz: Snooki got $9,000 for her upcoming appearance at James Madison University in Virginia. [Star]
• Justin Bieber's Sweet 16 party comes with the possible risk of death. [TMZ]
• John Mayer played a show in Philadelphia on Sunday night, and an 11-year-old in the audience was holding up a sign which read, "Can I Play 'Belief' With You?" John invited the kid on stage and they jammed. [MSNBC Scoop]
• Brittany Murphy's husband says: "Although Brittany's autopsy report was incredibly shocking and sad to the family, to me, Sharon and I both shed tears. We are vindicated in that we always said Brittany never did any kind of illegal substances and that the medication she was taking was the medication found in her system and we hope now that people will understand the legacy of Brittany Murphy and the incredible body of work of Brittany Murphy." [Radar Online]
• Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig was found dead in Vancouver's Stanley Park yesterday. Rest in peace. [Access Hollywood]
• Yes. Grace Jones. Performing. At the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar party. Yes. [Page Six]
• Universal wanted a sequel to Angelina Jolie's film Wanted; she said no. She will, however, star in a flick called Gravity, "a space thriller to be directed by Children of Men's Alfonso Cuarón from a script he wrote with his 28-year-old son, Jonás." [NY Mag]
• Craig Ferguson pays his studio audience to be there?!? [Radar Online]
• Tila Tequila is packing her bags, having a garage sale and moving to Texas, where she can have "a little piece." Naturally there is video of her explaining this. Also: She is coming back. "Once I come back it's going to be huge," Tila claims.  "All your questions about who the father is, am I really pregnant, how far along am I, am I getting married? Maybe I'll answer all your questions when I get back." [Radar Online]
• "The New York Police Department is investigating why a Bronx police placard was displayed in comedian Jerry Seinfeld's car." [AP]
• Kind of weird: Nicole Kidman is joining the cast of a romantic comedy starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. I already hate it! Kidding. Sort of. The plot: Sandler recruits Aniston to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife and her kids as his fake family in order to land the girl of his dreams. The "dreamgirl" is Sports Illustrated cover model Brooklyn Decker. Naturally. [Sharon Stone is selling her Beverly Hills home for a "colossal loss"; she bought it for $10,995,000 in 2006 and it's now going for $8,995,000. But you get tennis courts, a lovely pool area, and shady fountain. [Jon Cryer's ex-wife maybe trying to put a hit out on him persists. [Carly Simon is about to reveal the identity of the man who inspired "You're So Vain." [Daily Express]
• Billy Joel won't tour with Elton John this summer because he wants to take a year-long career break. Sing us a song, you're the piano man! [Starpulse]
• Ouch: "Moving vans, police surround Wayne Newton's home in debt dispute." [CNN]
• Q: Are you still getting called Dawson by people on the street? James Van Der Beek: "Every once in a while. It kinda goes away though. But that's how a lot of people were introduced to me. And that's what they'll remember until I give them an excuse to remember me by a different name and then they'll call me that for a little while. But it is one of the highest forms of flattery if they associate you so closely with a character. It means they bought it. So I try to think of it as a compliment." [NY Times]
• "My father told me that after the war his cousin Boleslaw had visited his parents' house and told them their village in Belarus had been razed to the ground. When I was young, my grandma said Hitler killed her mother, but I didn't want to know the true story. I told myself that my grandmother wasn't a reliable source and that everyone got out of Europe in time. The show made me face up to it." — Lisa Kudrow, who goes to Poland on Who Do You Think You Are and finds a long-lost cousin. Apparently her driver there told her: "Your hotel's really nice — it's where Mr. Hitler stayed." [Daily Mail]
• "I suppose there were two parts to it. One inspiration was to make my nephew laugh. When he was six, seven, or eight and I was a teenager, I began making up these ridiculous words that he liked the sound of, and creating these strange, futile creatures. And the other inspiration was my love of natural history. I suppose one of the themes of the Flanimals is the idea of deconstructing nature. Instead of just instincts, I give these characters will and introspection, and make them aware of their lot, which is very existential when you think about it." — Ricky Gervais on Flanimals and More Flanimals and Flanimals Pop-Up, books about silly characters, like Splunge, "a jub-wobbling glob bag" and Print, who relies not on traditional wings but on "gravity and stupidity." [Publisher's Weekly]
• "I couldn't wear [the super high shoes seen on the Calvin Klein runway]. Definitely not. I have trouble in any heel. Let alone, they must have been a foot high, although I could use an extra foot. There's always a good modern edge. And for me, somebody's who's small and [has] small features, narrow shoulders, I can't wear fussy, over the top clothing, but I still want an edge. I still want to have something going on and he's able to do that: make the clothes wearable and there's always something very modern about them… Around New York, especially in the winter, I've got an old pair of boots that I've been wearing for 5 years that I spend a lot of time walking 10, 15 blocks, dropping my kids, doing my school run." — Naomi Watts. [Wonderwall]
• "It wasn't these two men criticizing my skating, it was them criticizing me as a person, and that was something that really, frankly, pissed me off. Nobody knows me. … I think masculinity is what you believe it to be." — Johnny Weir, on two Quebecois TV broadcasters who suggested the skater might lose points on his routine due to his costume and "body language." [People]
• "Sasha Fierce is done. I killed her." — Beyoncé. [Prz]
• "People in this day and age are still under the illusion that every woman who is successful must be being controlled by a man. And that's something that really irritates me. Whenever I do get drunk or fall out of a nightclub, the subtext is Lily's record company bosses are very angry with her. For a start, they are not my bosses. I'm the boss." — Lily Allen. [Guardian]
• "That fat guy who's in The Office. I'd hit that." — Ke$ha on Ricky Gervais. [The Sun]

103

Ernie Armas, El Camino; Michael Connors, Jesuit; Robin Davis, Christian Brothers; Branden Matu, Antelope; Sean Merigold, Woodcreek; Aaron Miller, Cosumnes Oaks; Tommy Mitchell, Pioneer; Sawyer Mosel, Nevada Union; Connor Pollock, Folsom; Hunter Ramos, Franklin; Shane Saylor, Granite Bay; Kevin Tarp, Foothill; Victor Trujillo, Bella Vista; Alex Trussell, Kennedy; Sieren Smith, Rosemont.

112

Andrew Broadland, Granite Bay; Grant Burkhalter, Bella Vista; Kyle Ferguson, El Dorado; Alex Greybill, Ponderosa; Chris Guzman, Dixon; Seth Killion, Pioneer; Jimmy Landis, Woodland; Roman Mendoza, Natomas; Brendon Montoya, Del Oro; Martin Ramirez, Elk Grove; Lyle Susa, Sheldon; Tyler Szura, Nevada Union; Phillip Toy, Davis; Able Vallejos, Johnson; Thomas Viola, Pleasant Grove; Avery Ward, Antelope.

119

Jordan Achanzar, Whitney; Matt Bettencourt, Elk Grove; Danny Diaz, Jesuit; Tim Ditrich, Ponderosa; Dakota Fierro, Antelope; Juan Gudino, Bear River; Isaiah Hurtado, Sheldon; Danny Jacoshenk, Del Oro; Michael Lopez, Woodland; Andrew Naleway, Placer; James Phan, Rosemont; Jacob Purdy, Nevada Union; Trey Reese, Oak Ridge; Daniel Rodriguez, Capital Christian; Anthony Sakaoka, Valley; Alex Steelman, Natomas; Shayne Tucker, Bella Vista.

125

Brandon Buroni, Oak Ridge; Braden Henderson, Elk Grove; Mike Kintz, El Camino; Kyle Meniketti, Ponderosa; Eric Meredith, Sheldon; Brandon Meyer, Center; Jeremy Newman, Woodland; Julian Purdy, Nevada Union; Dalton Richardson, Placer; Peter Santos, Woodcreek; Cody Tow, Union Mine; Reginald Trimingham, West Campus; Auston Wulfert, Casa Roble.

130

Kenny Aganon, Sheldon; Tyler Anderson, Casa Roble; Austin Branum, Del Oro; Racelis Cardenas, Natomas; Jake Elliott, Oakmont; Dylan Jankovich, Roseville; Mitchell Maddox, Placer; Cody Mitchell, Union Mine; Matt Parker, Folsom; Luke Ramirez, Woodland; Joe Rodriguez, Elk Grove; Keaton Subjeck, Oak Ridge; Ryan Thomas, El Camino; Chris Winn, Jesuit.

135

Adam Blank, River Valley; Dylan Blomgren, Del Oro; Angelo Ciaraglia, Woodcreek; Josh Dawson, Oak Ridge; Walter Ditrich, Ponderosa; Max Francesconi, Elk Grove; Jason Imbach, Woodland; Ryan Jensen, Folsom; Aaron Maddox, Placer; Andrew Mena, Dixon; Jennifer Page, Bella Vista; Josh Pennell, El Camino; Nazir Rasooli, Whitney; Sean Tow, Union Mine; Xavier Vasquez, Sheldon.

140

Laith Alnassiri, Sheldon; Paul Aurre, River Valley; Greg Barrier, Oak Ridge; Jake Briggs, Bella Vista; Kevin Burrage, Del Oro; Robin Callas, Nevada Union; Chris Chovanec, Vista del Lago; Isaias Diaz, Folsom; Dane Dorowski, El Camino; Justin Haynes, Jesuit; Curtis Lawrence, Woodland; Blake Matis, Casa Roble; Shawn Porter, Elk Grove; Jesse Routsong, Ponderosa; Joseph Thornton, Placer; Anthony Vega, Lindhurst.

145

Brett Adcock, Folsom; Gabe Betancourt, River Valley; Cody Calhoun, Davis; Georgie Carlson, Pleasant Grove; William Caves, Center; Daniel Clark, Del Campo; Aaron Demay, Ponderosa; Abraham Fish, Nevada Union; Foster Fretland, Del Oro; Dillon Gonzalez, Pioneer; Dillon Mueller, Bella Vista; Carl Pavich, Placer; Ian Poindexter, El Dorado; Joe Rivera, Sheldon; Angelo Trevino, Rio Americano; Angel Vega, Lindhurst; Scott Votino, Elk Grove; Adam Wagner, Granite Bay; Tommy Williams, Rocklin.

152

Daniel Arushanov, Antelope; Jordan Bailey, Vista del Lago; David Call, Bella Vista; Carl Carlson, Pleasant Grove; Vinny Corralejo, Colfax; Alex Diaz, Oak Ridge; Ricardo Gonzales, Elk Grove; Grant Higgins, River Valley; Austin Jack, Franklin; Jonathon Lesley, Natomas; Gaaret Marinelli, Ponderosa; Trevor Painter, Nevada Union; Jesse Romero, El Dorado; Jesse Stafford, Del Oro; Tyler Thomas, Pioneer.

160

Patrick Abeleda, Franklin; Shawn Bry, Sheldon; Carlo Chavez, Natomas; Tyler Clarke, Elk Grove; Steven Cox, Placer; Drake Dorowski, El Camino; Allen Emmons, Ponderosa; Gabe Fuentes, Rio Americano; Charlie Gordon, Granite Bay; Vinny Herrera, Florin; Alex Hurlimann, Folsom; Jacob Kern, Bella Vista; Kyle Lopez, Mesa Verde; Dillon Moore, El Dorado; Clinton Redman, Johnson; Kendall Smith, Golden Sierra; Vincent Waldhauser, Oak Ridge; Mitchell Woods, Union Mine.

171

Dillon Fader, Folsom; Ryan Fratto, Roseville; Robert Gourlay, Bella Vista; Yevgeny Isayev, Cordova; Khymba Johnson, Center; Brandon Monroe, Pioneer; Kyle Newman, Nevada Union; Tyler Shields, Casa Roble; Daniel Stanley, Lincoln; Kenny Steers, Ponderosa; Jake Uhler, Del Oro; Mike Watkins, Elk Grove; Logan Whalen, Franklin; Austin Wilson, Mesa Verde.

189

John Aleman, Lincoln; William Anderson, Granite Bay; Yujun Cho, El Camino; David Cobian, Franklin; Matt Dakin, Elk Grove; Preston Dean, Oak Ridge; Rex Gilbreaith, El Dorado; Eddie Love, Del Oro; Lyndell Scarr, Ponderosa; Jordan Sepeda, Natomas; Matt Thomas, Pioneer; Chris Vasquez, Union Mine; Alex Wood, Folsom; Nikolay Yakshin, Center.

215

Jordan Alleva, Folsom; John Brower, Galt; Paul Buchanan, Ponderosa; Julio Ceron, Whitney; Mike Corcoran, Sheldon; Ben Davis, Foothill; James George, Lindhurst; Marty Greer, Valley; Mario Griego, Pioneer; Bryan Hayashida, Elk Grove; Rafael Iriarte, Nevada Union; Trevor Lardie, El Camino; Dylan Orr, Christian Brothers; Shane Plummer, Del Oro; JoJo Sepeda, Natomas; Andrew Suchomel, Lincoln.

285

Soloman Allbaran, Monterey Trail; Ben Alvarez, Lindhurst; Gavin Andrews, Granite Bay; Peter Anguiano, Franklin; Michael Champagne, Nevada Union; Dylan Craik, Union Mine; Ethan Driver, Pioneer; Daniel Gusev, Center; Lefi Letuligasenoa, Elk Grove; Michael Lowman, Foothill; Riley Nooner, Ponderosa; Nate Nordquist, El Camino; Matt Phipps, Del Campo; Ryan Reed, Casa Roble; Tim Rocha, Bella Vista; Jacob Styler, Placer; Stephen Taylor, Burbank; Que'shawn Warren, Sheldon.

Source: cifsjs.org

THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL RETURNS TO LOS ANGELES FOR 8 DAYS OF SCREENINGS, PREMIERES, PARTIES, PANELS AND AWARDS CEREMONY

Next edition will feature the talents of Danny Trejo; Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow); Eric Roberts; Hal Ozsan (Kyle XY, Dawson's Creek, Californication); Roland Kickinger (Terminator Salvation);Dee Wallace (ET); Steven Bauer (Scarface, Traffic); Rudolf Martin (Swordfish, Mad Men); Jim Beaver (Deadwood, Supernatural); Glenn Plummer (ER, Showgirls); Garry Pastore; Vincent Pastore; Al Sapienza (The Sopranos); Robert Funaro (The Sopranos); Jason Cerbone (The Sopranos); Louis Vanaria (A Bronx Tale); Justin Hartley (Passions, Smallville); Erin Cummings (Bitch Slap, Spartacus); Taylor Kinny (Trauma); John Schneider (The Secret Life of an American Teenager, 90210, Smallville), Andrew Bowen (Dollhouse, CSI: NY, Las Vegas, RENO 911).The Late Old Dirty Basterd (ODB) and the Wu-Tang Clan members; Raekwon; Method Man; British artist Steven Wilson; Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; Nacho Vigalondo; Antonio Banderas; Fernado Bovaira; Fernando Trueba and José Luis Garci.

The following 14 countries and territories will be represented: USA, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Portugal, Denmark, UK, Austria, Sweden and Australia. 

The upcoming festival screenings will take place exclusively at Culver Plaza Theatres located at 9919 Washington Blvd. at Hughes (across the street from Sony Studios and the Kirk Douglas Theatre) from Friday, February 26th-Thursday, March 4th, 2010. Culver Plaza Theatre's website. 

 

The opening night kick-off party and awards ceremony will take place at The Cabana Club (located at 1439 Ivar Blvd. at Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA) on Thursday, February 25th from 6pm-10pm.

CULVER PLAZA THEATRES (FESTIVAL SCREENINGS IN LA):

 

 

CABANA CLUB (OPENING NIGHT):

 

SELECT LA FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS (the complete film festival schedule will be announced shortly on http://www.nyfilmvideo.com/  

Groupie: (USA)
When a mysterious groupie joins legendary cursed band The Dark Knights, a series of unexplained murders befalls their comeback tour. Cast: Taryn Manning, Eric Roberts, Hal Ozsan. Directed by Mark L. Lester. 85 min. Thriller.
*Screening Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:30pm

Boston Girls: (USA)
Boston Girls, an edgy and provocative film about two femme fatales with a serious vendetta for cheating men. Armed with a list reminiscent of Kill Bill, these girls won't rest until the last scumbag has been offed. Starring Danny Trejo, Camille Solari Shay Astar.
*Screening Thursday, March 4th at 8pm

Raven: (USA)
John Salem (Roland Kickinger, Terminator Salvation) picks up his life mission as the last surviving member of a centuries old vampire hunter brotherhood. He must find and kill the murderous undead Raven (Meadow Williams, The Intruders, Light Years Away, APOLLO 13). Also starring: Dee Wallace (ET), Steven Bauer (Scarface, Traffic), Rudolf Martin (Swordfish, Mad Men). Directed by Gregori J. Martin. 87 min. Horror.

*Screening Monday, March 1st at 8:30pm

Spanish Hollywood: (SPAIN)
Hollywood has always rewarded talent. Sometimes it finds it at home and sometimes it has to cross the Atlantic for it. Professionals from every country have come to Los Angeles in search of their big break. Would you like to know what role Spaniards have played in this colony of people who want to be stars? If you think that this story began with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, you should watch this documentary. Spanish Hollywood goes into detail as it explains the history of Spaniards in this film Mecca, from the first actors in silent films, such as Antonio Moreno and Conchita Montenegro, to more influential professionals in the film world like Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Nacho Vigalondo. It also includes important names in Spanish cinema such as Antonio Banderas, Fernado Bovaira, Fernando Trueba and José Luis Garci. Directed by Ramon Colom and Pablo Bujosa. 59 min. Documentary.
*Screening Saturday, February 27th at 4pm

'DIRTY' one word can change the world: (USA)
'DIRTY' one word can change the world is an intimate look into the life and death of the ground-breaking hip hop artist Ol' Dirty Bastard One Of Wu-Tang Clan Founding Member. Featuring: ODB and the Wu-Tang Clan members, including: Rza, Gza, Method Man, Ghostface Killa, Raekwon Da Chef, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, Cappadonna, ODB's Brooklyn Zu, Sunz of Man, Kllarmy, The Black Knight and more of the 36 Chambers. Directed by Raison Allah. 86 min. Music/Biography.
*Screening Thursday, March 4th at 10:15pm

Modern Day Slaves: (Kowloon Hongkong, Manila Philippines, KSA and California USA)
OFW's, Overseas Foreign Workers, forced to leave their home country in order to find work to feed their families, are often exploited, unprotected and abused. Corrupted governments tax what little wages they send home in the form of remittances, perpetuating the class system they flee. There are 11 million documented and hundreds of thousands more undocumented modern day slaves in our world today. More Americans today, due to the economic collapse are leaving the U.S. to find work. Will history repeat itself?" This documentary follows four Filipino OFW's and their stories of torture, rape and abuse. Forgotten by both their third-world and first world host countries, they are the consequences of human trafficking and extreme human rights violation. This violence must end. Directed by Ted Unarce. 50 minutes. Social Issues Documentary.
*Screening Saturday, February 27th at 8pm

Waiting For...Budd (USA)
"Some things are just meant to be" The last live performance for Budd Schulberg of On The Waterfront and how it almost wasn't. Starring: Vincent Pastore, Garry Pastore, Al Sapienza, Robert Funaro, Jason Cerbone, Robin Paul, Louis Vanaria. Directed by Garry Pastore. 29 min. Documentary.
*Screening Friday, February 26th at 8pm

Scorpio Men on Prozac: (USA)
SMOP is a comically satirical film about a group of Scorpio males, ages
sixteen to thirty who for various; emotional, sexual and romantic
problems are taking the anti-depressant Prozac or 'zac' as they call
it. Starring: Justin Hartley (Passions, Smallville),Erin Cummings (Bitch Slap, Spartacus),Taylor Kinny (Trauma). Directed by Rand Marsh. 106 min. Dramatic Comedy.
*Screening Saturday, February 27th at 6pm

The Silence of Bees: (USA)
Alcoholic writer Parker Lam (Jim Beaver, Deadwood , Supernatural) sees through people with a razor sharpness. Convinced his daughter Alex's life in Flint, Michigan has left her unfulfilled despite her protests, he gives her a gift that changes her forever. Emotionally shattered from years of neglect, the connection between a father and his daughter is sometimes too strong to be broken. Directed by Andrew Traister. 17 min. Drama.
*Screening Sunday, February 28th at 4pm

We The People 2010: (USA)
"We as a people, don't have a human rights leader that is as powerful in speaking up for a people as Dr. Martin Luther King was. During these times of doubt, I listened to Dr. King's speeches and heard his words of yesterday as the words of today. What he said then is happening now. The 1968 Vietnam speech and the I Have a Dream speech allowed me to visually place the images from the past and connect them to the current events of the present." Directed by David E. Breaux. Produced by Vin Diesel. 33 min. Documentary.
*Screening Saturday, February 27th at 4pm

ACCOMMODATIONS:
The NYIFF in LA has partnered with www.roomorama.com to bring you more accommodation options while you're in LA for the festival. Roomorama is a website that connects travelers with hosts who provide short-term rentals, and apartments on Roomorama range from professionally-managed suites to individually-owned homes.

Just use the discount code INDIE before you pay to get $20 off your next booking, wherever you're going (Roomorama is in 14 cities worldwide). http://www.roomorama.com/  

PARKING: Conveniently located free parking in parking lot right behind/under the Culver Plaza Theatre with validation (movie/festival ticket is your validation). Street parking available.

TICKETS: Single tickets are $12 and can be purchased in advance at http://www.nyfilmvideo.com/  or at the festival box office ($15) at Culver Plaza Theatres beginning February 26th, 2010. Single tickets allow ticket holders into film screening and after-party.

Accreditation - Press and industry can receive all-access VIP passes by faxing requests to (702) 953-5148 on their company letterhead or email: nicolefilms1@aol.com  

By Special Correspondent Arturo R. García Chris Sims at The Comic Alliance highlighted the cover to Archie #608, which points in the direction of a decidedly different type of crossover between Archie and his gang and Josie & The Pussycats – specifically, the eponymous Mr. Andrews and Valerie, so uh, memorably played by Rosario Dawson in [...]

Beating Hartlepool away next Saturday is, in the greater scheme of things, more important to Leeds United than knocking Tottenham Hotspur out of the FA Cup last night, but no-one who saw this hugely committed and at times frantic cup tie could accuse the United players of harbouring their resources. As at Manchester United in the third round, and 10 days ago at White Hart Lane, the Yorkshire side produced the sort of performance which both belied their status and suggested that if they do not get promoted this season, something will have gone very wrong.

For all their insistence that the pressure was on their opponents, there was still scope for the United players to be nervous in front of an impressively raucous full house of just over 38,000. That much was evident in the first minute, when Andrew Hughes's attempt to clear Niko Kranjcar's ambitious diagonal ball simply presented the ball to Jermain Defoe. It was as well for Hughes that the England striker fluffed his shot.

It did not take long for the putative underdogs to settle, however. Picked out by Michael Doyle, Jonny Howson curled a neat shot narrowly over the bar, rather closer to the target than ­Sébastien ­Bassong's side-footed volley at the other end soon afterwards. On a pitch still greasy after a hour or so of wet snow before ­kick-off, the pace in the opening period was unrelenting.

Defoe was the next to go close, thumping a drive just wide from 18 yards, but again Leeds responded. Leigh Bromby's looping cross should have been an easy gather for Heurelho Gomes inside his own six-yard box, but Jermaine Beckford's remarkable spring saw the striker, who already has 24 goals to his name this season, get his forehead above the Spurs goalkeeper's reaching hands. Somehow the ball came back off the bar.

If Gomes was unconvincing, his opposite number Casper Ankergren was at his best when Defoe beat the offside trap, narrowing the angle and getting enough on the shot to divert it wide. The Danish goalkeeper also had to react quickly when Bromby's accidental deflection of Gareth Bale's cross threatened to sneak in at his near post.

So well was Ankergren playing, in fact, that it took what was surely a huge slice of fortune for Spurs to beat him. There was nothing lucky about the run and pull-back with which David Bentley left Defoe free in the penalty area, but a poor first touch meant the subsequent left-foot shot appeared to be badly sliced. With Ankergren hopelessly wrong-footed, the ball drifted over Naylor and inside the angle of post and bar.

Stung by the injustice, for the remainder of the half Leeds flung themselves forward. Moments before the break the pressure finally told, when Beckford's swivelling volley was saved by Gomes, but Luciano Becchio followed up to turn the ball over the line.

It was nothing less than Leeds deserved after the most hectic 45 minutes of football that Spurs must have been involved with for some time, and the half-time message from Harry Redknapp can only have been to calm down and try and impose their superior passing game. For five minutes after the restart they did exactly that, and should have retaken the lead when Bentley again found Defoe with an intelligent cut-back. Again Defoe failed to connect properly, but the ball came out to Nico Krancjar. The Croatian's shot was wide, but very nearly turned in by a sliding Peter Crouch.

Again Leeds attempted to up the pace, but the conviction that characterised their first-half efforts was no longer quite so obvious. Sensing the change Spurs began if not to relax, to play with a little more belief, and Ankergren had to save well, first from Michael Dawson and then from a rising Bentley drive. He was finally beaten shortly after the hour, only for Defoe to be ruled offside.

Tottenham were flowing, though, and in the 74th minute Leeds finally broke. It was no great surprise that Bentley, on the right, should be the provider with a low driven cross, nor that Defoe, from close range, should provide the finishing touch.

With the crowd finally quietened, Leeds manager Simon Grayson turned to his bench, but even though Redknapp named three academy players among his substitutes, the gulf in resources was still obvious. With ­Wilson Palacios and Luka Modric remaining on the bench, Redknapp sat back as the tackles, ­hitherto hard but clean, took on a nastier edge. Defoe's ­hat-trick, completed in stoppage time when he rounded Ankergren who had pushed forward, made the game safe.

• <
• Lindsay Lohan was spotted making out with a guy two weeks ago, but last night she went out with Samantha Ronson. [TMZ]

• Nicole Richie, who was in attendance at the We Are The World "remake", Tweeted, "I hope Jennifer Hudson wasn't upset that I was out-singing her tonight." [Us]
• A North Carolina judge ordered John Edwards' former aide Andrew Young and his wife Cheri to appear before the court and explain why they haven't returned the Rielle Hunter sex tape. [Radar]
• Ryan Seacrest's alleged stalker Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr., pleaded not guilty to one count of felony stalking and two misdemeanor counts of violating a court order to stay away from Seacrest in court today. [E!]
• Sources say Dr. Conrad Murray is in L.A. and plans to surrender to authorities tomorrow, even though he hasn't been charged yet for his role in Michael Jackson's death. [TMZ]
• Dr. Arnold Klein, who is suing fellow plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Hoefflin for defamation, says in court papers, "It is not clear to me why Dr. Hoefflin holds the malice for me that he manifested by stating publicly that I was instrumental in providing the medication that caused Michael Jackson's death." [TMZ]
• Khloe Kardashian got a speeding ticket in 2003 and forgot to pay it so a judge issued a bench warrant. It to light recently when Khloe got into an altercation with a transgender person at a nightclub. Her lawyer apologized so she was ordered to pay $200 in court costs and the ticket was dismissed. [TMZ]
• A judge entered a default judgment against Tila Tequila because she never responded to Shawne Merriman's lawsuit in which he claims she sabotaged a his business deal. Now the judge has set aside the default judgment and given Tila until February 16 to respond. [TMZ]
• Jennifer Lopez played music loudly in the middle of the afternoon and one of her neighbors went over to complain. He was intercepted by her handlers and never saw J. Lo, so he ratted her out to Radar. [Radar]
• Since Steven Tyler is in rehab, there's been talk of finding a replacement singer for Aerosmith. Now his lawyer has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the band's management about saying, "Aerosmith without Steven Tyler is like the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger, or U2 without Bono... While this management strategy may get the band on the road a few months sooner, it ultimately could destroy Aerosmith." [N.Y.T.]
• The Pet Shop Boys played in the living room who won a contest. [Mirror]
• Brad Pitt's production company is closing a deal to option Michael Lewis' book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. [N.Y. Magazine]
• Jennifer Aniston is hosting a benefit screening of The Last Station. Proceeds will be donated to AmeriCares to benefit Haiti. [E!]
• Danica Patrick will guest star on CSI: New York as a "racing star who dies under suspicious circumstances." [CBS News]
• We haven't seen James Van Der Beek much since Dawson's Creek, but according to his divorce documents prove he isn't hurting financially: His average monthly salary is nearly $50,000. [TMZ]
• Former Boston Legal star Justin Mentell died yesterday in a car accident at age 27. Police say he may have fallen asleep at the wheel before his car fell down an embankment and crashed into two trees in Wisconsin. [Radar]
• Brittany Murphy's husband Simon Monjack is hosting a launch party for the Brittany Murphy Foundation and asking attendees to donate $1,000 each. "Everyone thinks it's very tacky that he is making it so much about money," says a source. [Us]
• Check out Keri Russell on the March cover of Lucky. [Just Jared]
• Sienna Miller was spotted leaving Jude Law's London house this morning wearing the same clothes she wore the night before. [Radar]
• The folks at Us are shocked that Kendra Wilkinson and Kim Kardashian aren't sniping at each other because Kendra's husband Hank Baskett plays for the Colts and Kim's boyfriend Reggie Bush plays for the Saints. [Us]
• After Stephen Colbert won the Best Comedy Album Grammy, beating Kathy Griffin, it was widely reported that she Tweeted "Stephen Colbert STOLE my mother f-ing Grammy!!" It turns out the Tweet was from an old account. She wrote on her real account, "OMG, I feel like Miley Cyrus. My old Twitter acct was hacked...I did NOT diss Colbert re Grammys." [Us]
• Radar claims there are nude pictures of Snooki that are "too graphic to describe," but she Tweeted today, "Idk [I don't know] where radar online comes up with their stories..weirdos." [Us]
• The cast of Jersey Shore will appear on The Tonight Show on March 1, two nights after Jay Leno's return as host. [Radar]
• Two applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the phrase "The Situation" to use on underwear. One is from Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino's brother, who owns a porn company, and the other is from Vadio LLC. [TMZ]
• Paul Anka is suing his estranged wife Anna Anka for defamation. He claims she gave interviews to the Swedish press, declaring that she did not have a prenuptial agreement and saying, "You won't believe how much I'll get when this is over." [TMZ]
• ABC executives are considering moving The View to the afternoon or syndicating it. [L.A.T.]
• A source says the rumor that Gael Garcia Bernal broke up with girlfriend Dolores Fonzi and wants a paternity test on their 1-year-old son are, "Completely untrue," adding that they, "are happy together and they love their son. This is totally made up." [People]
• A judge has ruled that Ryan O'Neal will be released from jail to attend a drug rehab facility. [ET]
• Redmond O'Neal released a handwritten letter to Radar in which he writes, "My plan is to go back with a new attitude and leave my old ideas behind. I am committed to doing this thing." [Radar]
• Mariska Hargitay spoke at the Services-Training-Officers-Prosecutors Conference in San Francisco today about ending violence against women. "I have seen survivors find their way back to lives of possibility, hope and joy, and I am so proud to be part of a movement that will change the way we talk about and behave around these epidemics," said Hargitay, who is president and founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which helps sexually abused women. [UPI]
• Colin Firth said of receiving his first Oscar nomination for A Single Man, "I thought I was managing my expectations, but on hearing the news I discovered new and unfamiliar vocal tones - perhaps I should do another musical." [The Mirror]
• "This is more exhilarating than I could have ever imagined. What a tremendous honor from the academy – a blazing stamp in the passport of an artist that can never be taken away and will always be cherished." — Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner on his first Oscar nomination. [People]
• "I'm very happy and honored for Christopher, myself and our film. I think Tolstoy himself would have been perplexed by all this, but, Sofya his wife would have been over the moon. So in that spirit, I am too." — Helen Mirren on her Best Actress Oscar nomination for The Last Station. [People]
• "I am proud and grateful to stand with these women who have given such a range of beautiful, indelible performances this year!" — Meryl Streep on her nomination for Julie & Julia. [People]
• "I am so excited and honored to be recognized by the Academy and included in such a remarkable group of actors. I'm very proud of my film, my cast and extremely grateful to Mr. Daniels for the incredible opportunity to play Precious." — Gabourey Sidibe on her Best Actress Oscar nomination. [People]
  
• "It was like a really good, friendly punch in the stomach. It's a good feeling, but it's like a jolt. You can be in as many top-five lists and have as many people say things to you on red carpets as you like, and it doesn't for a single second make you honestly think that you're going to get nominated." — Carey Mulligan on her Best Actress nomination for An Education. [AP]
• "I am completely surprised and elated. Rob Marshall is not only a genius but an absolute joy to work with. I woke up every morning excited to collaborate with this amazingly talented group of actors. Filming this movie was such a special experience and to be nominated for this role makes me so happy." — Penelope Cruz on her Best Supporting Actress nomination for Nine. [People]
• Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal said of his nomination, "It's my first Oscar nomination, my first screenplay. I think I should quit now, and take up a bonsai tree." [N.Y. Magazine]
• Emma Roberts, who recently dyed her hair blonde, says, "I had a really good time being brunette, but being blonde... I've had an equally good time. Guys check me out more, which is weird. When I had brown hair, girls would tell me I was pretty all the time, and then with blonde hair, guys tell me I'm pretty a lot. So I really don't know what that means." [Us]
• Betty White sent Rue McClanahan, who recently suffered a stroke, some flowers along with a card that read, "I hope you die, so I can be the last Golden Girl!" Rue reportedly loved it. [Perez]

Risk.net

Alvise Munari has joined Morgan Stanley as global head of equity derivatives sales and financial engineering. Munari was formerly at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he was a managing director in charge of multi-asset structured product and flow equity derivatives distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Munari, who will report to Luc Francois and Ted Pick, global co-heads of equities at Morgan Stanley in London, has more than 15 years’ experience in the derivatives industry and previously worked at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. He will be based in London and starts in his new position in April.

Salvatore di Stasi has joined UBS as global head of corporate equity derivatives, a new position. Di Stasi was formerly at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner and managing director in the US bank’s European financing group. Prior to that, he worked at JP Morgan as European head of corporate equity derivatives.

Di Stasi will be responsible for the development of UBS’s global corporate equity derivatives and will report to Matthew Koder, global head of global capital markets, with an additional reporting line to Jason Barron, global head of equity derivatives.

Richard Harman has joined Royal Bank of Scotland as head of retail structuring, Asia-Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Harman will report to Shane Edwards and David Moroney, global co-heads of retail structuring, and will manage the bank’s retail structuring teams in the region.
Prior to joining RBS, Harman spent nine years at Citi in Hong Kong and Tokyo, responsible for global hybrid solutions. In Hong Kong, he was a director in equity derivatives and responsible for structured investment product idea generation including structured mutual funds.

Macquarie has made new appointments to lead the expansion of its fund-linked business in New York. Pratap Dasgupta has been named a managing director in the fund-linked derivatives team, joining Mike Vittelli, who also moved to Macquarie recently. Both were formerly part of the fund-linked derivatives team at BNP Paribas.

Florian de Sigy, former head of structured equity sales for Europe at Deutsche Bank, has established an independent financial boutique in London called Gamma Finance, in partnership with Javier Rodriguez, previously senior strategist and head of strategic accounts at Barclays Global Investors’ clients’ solutions group. De Sigy left Deutsche, where he reported to Kim Gayer, head of equity derivatives structured product sales, in December 2008. De Sigy joined Deutsche in June 2002 from Société Générale.

Credit Suisse has expanded its structured retail products group in Australia, adding Philip McLean, who joined the sales team from Macquarie. McLean held a senior sales role in equity derivatives at Macquarie, and before that at the Australian Securities Exchange’s structured products and warrants division. Patrick James also joined the group late last year from law firm Blake Dawson to manage product structuring.

Daiwa Capital Markets has continued the development of its derivatives presence in Hong Kong with the secondment of Dominique Blanchard, global head of derivatives from London to Hong Kong.

Ricardo Manrique has departed as chief executive of Stoxx in a restructure following the acquisition of the index provider by Deutsche Börse and Six Group. Manrique joined Stoxx in October 2008 from Standard Bank, where he was previously responsible for Latin American derivatives sales and structuring.

Hartmut Graf, previously head of issuer data and analytics at Deutsche Börse, has been appointed chief executive. Graf sits on the management board along with chief financial officer Patrick Valovic. Both men are based in Zürich. Four new hires from Six Group and Deutsche Börse have also been made to the board of directors.

David Harboun has joined the Benelux desk at Société Générale, moving from JP Morgan. Harboun reports to Valerie Toche, head of Benelux sales at SG.

Andrew Stevenson has joined Quintillion Asset Management (QAM) head of structured product sales and intermediary business development, based in London. Stevenson reports to Simon Silva-Peake, investment director of QAM. Stevenson was formerly an an investment adviser with Merchant John East Securities.

Birmingham's traditional anthem is "Keep Right On To The End Of The Road", and doing so paid off at St Andrew's today, when Liam Ridgewell burgled a point with a close-range equaliser as the match went into added time.

Tottenham thought they had won it with Jermain Defoe's 17th goal of the season, thumped home midway through the second half, but right at the death James McFadden's cross was headed down by Cameron Jerome for left-back Ridgewell to volley past Heurelho Gomes from two yards.

Birmingham defended as if their lives depended on it, as is their custom, but once they fell behind there appeared to be was no way back for a team who have scored just 10 times in their 12 homes games. Small wonder they are trying to sign Kenwyne Jones, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Ryan Babel or anybody capable of finishing more effectively than Christian Benítez or Jerome. Meanwhile, contributions from other areas will do nicely.

Both teams were unchanged – something of a rarity for Spurs but routine for the Blues, who have had the same starting line-up for 11 matches. Alex McLeish opted to keep the faith after the 3-0 defeat at Chelsea on the basis that anybody can come a cropper at Stamford Bridge. His two new signings, Michel from Sporting Gijón and Craig Gardner, who made the shorter move from Aston Villa, started on the bench, which was also the unwelcome fate of Tottenham's Robbie Keane. Michel, still striving for optimum fitness, replaced Lee Bowyer after 65 minutes.

The first half was instantly forgettable, producing no more than a couple of unremarkable shots apiece. For Birmingham, Bowyer and Benítez should both have done better, with the Mexican particularly culpable for what amounted to a pass-back to Gomes from near the penalty spot. Similarly, Spurs were unable to extend Joe Hart, with Luka Modric firing wide when well placed and Bentley demanding no more than a perfunctory save.

The second half was an improvement, but only just. Bentley threatened from 15 yards, and Spurs' two England strikers, Defoe and Peter Crouch, embarrassed each other with an after-you routine which culminated in Crouch scuffing horribly wide.

To their considerable relief, the same pair made amends after 69 minutes, when Crouch, stooping low, helped on Gareth Bale's cutback from the left for Defoe to thump the ball past Hart from 12 yards.

Benítez spurned an opportunity to equalise when, through unattended, he hesitated and allowed the Spurs defence to regroup, Michael Dawson blocking the delayed shot, and it was Ridgewell who spared his blushes.

In reply to Merde: Dawson Goes in as an Expo and Other Cub Notes:

Keith Law can be all over the place with his rankings. Here's where he ranked the Cubs 1 year ago:

27. Chicago Cubs: Josh Vitters and a few hard-throwing relievers, and that's about it. The Cubs had some really atrocious drafts in the mid-2000s -- it's a fair bet that the 2005 draft class will fail to produce a big leauger(sic) other than Donald Veal, who was lost in the Rule 5 draft last month and has done absolutely nothing to earn a big league shot this April.

That's right, he ranked the Cubs 27th! And, apparently, Starlin Castro and Andrew Cashner weren't even on his radar. He had only Vitters at #14 and Jay Jackson at #98 on his 2009 top 100 list.

And, fwiw, here's what Keith Law organizational rankings are supposed to mean, ".. a system with high-impact prospects who are relatively close to the majors ranks high, even if the system lacks depth in second- and third-tier prospects. "

Josh Koppel, ScrollMotion; Andrew Malkin, Zinio; Brad Inman, Vook, Maja Thomas, Hachette Book Group; Eric Freese, Aptara, Laura Dawson, LJNDawson This is a panel discussion moderated by Laura Dawson. Possibilities beyond e-ink. ScrollMotion: founder. Started out because was disappointed that a digital book was defined as just high resolution text. iPhone is what inspired [...]

 

The New York International Independent Film & Video Festival is now accepting entries (feature, shorts, documentaries, music videos, etc.)  for LA, February 2010 (LAST CALL for LA Fest) and NYC 2010. If you want to submit a film, please visit http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102952828493&s=66391&e=0017OHZ1aYA0OXi_oboMSlOVQjqNLyHJf2YtZ7fpatDY9CfGCSDszbBY4IpxL2yKneqLAd6CQ0N_oCV2X6BuVcp052SkG0Hyg3z9X-d5MqtWaKVTt4eTzK8Sw==

LA Festival screenings will take place exclusively at the Regency Fairfax Cinema located at 7907 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048, February 26th- March 4th, 2010.

 

The opening night kick-off party and awards ceremony will take place at The Cabana Club (located at 1439 Ivar Blvd. at Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA) on Thursday, February 25th from 6pm-10pm.

 

 

***All NYIFF films are screened in REAL movie theatres in NYC and LA!*** 

If you want to submit a film, please visit:
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102952828493&s=66391&e=0017OHZ1aYA0OXi_oboMSlOVQjqNLyHJf2YtZ7fpatDY9CfGCSDszbBY4IpxL2yKneqLAd6CQ0N_oCV2X6BuVcp052SkG0Hyg3z9X-d5MqtWaKVTt4eTzK8Sw==

 

THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL RETURNS TO LOS ANGELES FOR 8 DAYS OF SCREENINGS, PREMIERES, PARTIES, PANELS AND AWARDS CEREMONY"

Featuring the talents of Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow); Eric Roberts; Hal Ozsan (Kyle XY, Dawson's Creek, Californication); Roland Kickinger (Terminator Salvation);Dee Wallace (ET); Steven Bauer (Scarface, Traffic); Rudolf Martin (Swordfish, Mad Men); Jim Beaver  (Deadwood, Supernatural); Glenn Plummer (ER, Showgirls); Garry Pastore; Vincent Pastore; Al Sapienza (The Sopranos); Robert Funaro (The Sopranos);  Jason Cerbone (The Sopranos); Louis Vanaria (A Bronx Tale); Justin Hartley (Passions, Smallville); Erin Cummings (Bitch Slap, Spartacus); Taylor Kinny (Trauma);The Late Old Dirty Basterd (ODB) and the Wu-Tang Clan members; Raekwon; Method Man; British artist Steven Wilson; Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; Nacho Vigalondo; Antonio Banderas; Fernado Bovaira; Fernando Trueba and José Luis Garci.

SELECT LA FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS (the complete film festival schedule will be announced in late January/early February):

Groupie: (USA)

When a mysterious groupie joins legendary cursed band The Dark Knights, a series of unexplained murders befalls their comeback tour. Cast: Taryn Manning, Eric Roberts, Hal Ozsan. Directed by Mark L. Lester. 85 min. Thriller.

Raven: (USA)

John Salem (Roland Kickinger, Terminator Salvation) picks up his life mission as the last surviving member of a centuries old vampire hunter brotherhood.  He must find and kill the murderous undead Raven (Meadow Williams, The Intruders, Light Years Away, APOLLO 13). Also starring: Dee Wallace (ET), Steven Bauer (Scarface, Traffic), Rudolf Martin (Swordfish, Mad Men). Directed by Gregori J. Martin. 87 min. Horror.

Spanish Hollywood: (SPAIN)

Hollywood has always rewarded talent. Sometimes it finds it at home and sometimes it has to cross the Atlantic for it. Professionals from every country have come to Los Angeles in search of their big break. Would you like to know what role Spaniards have played in this colony of people who want to be stars? If you think that this story began with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, you should watch this documentary. Spanish Hollywood goes into detail as it explains the history of Spaniards in this film Mecca, from the first actors in silent films, such as Antonio Moreno and Conchita Montenegro, to more influential professionals in the film world like Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Nacho Vigalondo. It also includes important names in Spanish cinema such as Antonio Banderas, Fernado Bovaira, Fernando Trueba and José Luis Garci.  Directed by Ramon Colom and Pablo Bujosa. 59 min. Documentary.

'DIRTY' one word can change the world: (USA)

'DIRTY' one word can change the world is an intimate look into the life and death of the ground-breaking hip hop artist Ol' Dirty Bastard One Of  Wu-Tang Clan Founding Member. Featuring: ODB and the Wu-Tang Clan members, including: Rza, Gza, Method Man, Ghostface Killa, Raekwon Da Chef, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, Cappadonna, ODB's Brooklyn Zu, Sunz of Man, Kllarmy, The Black Knight and more of the 36 Chambers. Directed by Raison Allah. 86 min. Music/Biography.

Modern Day Slaves: (Kowloon Hongkong, Manila Philippines, KSA and California USA)

OFW's, Overseas Foreign Workers, forced to leave their home country in order to find work to feed their families, are often exploited, unprotected and abused.  Corrupted governments tax what little wages they send home in the form of remittances, perpetuating the class system they flee.  There are 11 million documented and hundreds of thousands more undocumented modern day slaves in our world today.  More Americans today, due to the economic collapse are leaving the U.S. to find work.  Will history repeat itself?"  This documentary follows four Filipino OFW's and their stories of torture, rape and abuse.  Forgotten by both their third-world and first world host countries, they are the consequences of human trafficking and extreme human rights violation.  This violence must end. Directed by Ted Unarce. 50 minutes. Social Issues Documentary.

Waiting For...Budd (USA)

"Some things are just meant to be" The last live performance for Budd Schulberg of On The Waterfront and how it almost wasn't. Starring: Vincent Pastore, Garry Pastore, Al Sapienza, Robert Funaro,  Jason Cerbone, Robin Paul, Louis Vanaria. Directed by Garry Pastore. 29 min. Documentary.

Scorpio Men on Prozac: (USA)

SMOP is a comically satirical film about a group of Scorpio males, ages
sixteen to thirty who for various; emotional, sexual and romantic
problems are taking the anti-depressant Prozac or 'zac' as they call
it. Starring: Justin Hartley (Passions, Smallville),Erin Cummings (Bitch Slap, Spartacus),Taylor Kinny (Trauma). Directed by Rand Marsh. 106 min. Dramatic Comedy.

Insurgentes: (Denmark)

Insurgentes is a musical road movie that follows the making of Steven Wilson's first solo record and is a portrait of an increasingly rare artist who works with media out of love and not for fame and fortune, persisting in making art on his own terms. 76 min. Music/Biography.

The Silence of Bees: (USA)

Alcoholic writer Parker Lam (Jim Beaver, Deadwood , Supernatural) sees through people with a razor sharpness. Convinced his daughter Alex's life in Flint, Michigan has left her unfulfilled despite her protests, he gives her a gift that changes her forever. Emotionally shattered from years of neglect, the connection between a father and his daughter is sometimes too strong to be broken. Directed by Andrew Traister. 17 min. Drama.

We The People: (USA)

"We as a people, don't have a human rights leader that is as powerful in speaking up for a people as Dr. Martin Luther King was. During these times of doubt, I listened to Dr. King's speeches and heard his words of yesterday as the words of today. What he said then is happening now. The 1968 Vietnam speech and the I Have a Dream speech allowed me to visually place the images from the past and connect them to the current events of the present." Directed by David E. Breaux. Produced by Vin Diesel. 33 min. Documentary.

 Joshua's Soul: (USA)

Tragedy propels a young man to lose his soul and through divine intervention, he reclaims it. It's not what you lose, it's what you find. Starring: Glenn Plummer (ER, Showgirls). Directed by John Pittman. 28 min. Urban Drama.

The New York International Art Festival: Call For Entries
The New York International Art Festival is accepting entries for LA, February 2010 and NYC 2010.

If you want to exhibit, please check this link

The great and the good on the teachers they remember most fondly

Andrew Motion Former poet laureate

My background was very unbookish, and there was absolutely no expectation from my family of my ever reading very much or even writing anything. I wanted to birdwatch and be left alone. Then I was taught English by Peter Way (Mr Way to me), and it was as though he walked into my head and turned all the lights on.

He manifested in everything he said and did that poems were not a strange addition to life, but a part of it. And that is one of the great lessons of my life. He didn't know he was doing this, but he gave me my life. He lent me poems he liked and I showed him poems I had written, which weren't really poems but more an explosion of words. But he took me completely seriously. He introduced me to Woods, ­Larkin, Keats, Edward Thomas – all people who have meant more to me than anyone else. His way of teaching was very searching but also very passionate and scrupulous. When I left, he gave me the latest published edition of Moly by Thom Gunn, which had druggy poems in it. It was wonderful ­evidence of his broadmindedness – as if I needed any proof. He was an exemplary figure to me and now a dear friend. I don't doubt that if he hadn't taught me English, I would now be working for the RSPB.

Sarah Waters, Novelist

My most inspiring teacher was Ed Tanguay; he taught me art A-level at Milford Haven grammar school, south-west Wales, in the early 1980s. He was a really brilliant guy – inspiring in the best possible way, not just because he had all sorts of technical expertise and was good at passing it on, but because he encouraged us to think. Until he came along, art classes had been about putting a few objects on the desk and drawing them; he got us to do all sorts of crazy exercises – things about perception and response. He was a bit of an iconoclast, I suppose. One day he arrived at school having forgotten to wear a tie; he got us to make him one out of painted cardboard. He was ­everything a good teacher should be: stern at times, but good-­natured; clever, creative, and fun.

Michael Morpurgo, Author

I'm the proud owner of a third- class degree and have been teaching for 40 years, so I'm interested to learn that the Tories don't think I'd be up to the job now. The teacher who most inspired me was Edred Wright, director of music at the King's School, Canterbury. His great gift was being able to inspire children (like me) who weren't necessarily musically gifted – that's what we should require of teachers in all subjects. With Mr Wright it was never about improving the reputation of the school, just his intense love of music. What that man taught me aged 14 has ­enriched my entire life.

Robert Peston, BBC business editor

I went to a north London comprehensive in the 1970s. It was called Highgate Wood, and it had been created out of a secondary modern. The ethos of the school, created by the head, Eurof Walters, was that every kid deserved an equal chance to succeed. They were great at not writing off anyone – and lots of kids were given opportunities they wouldn't have had under a selective system.

Two teachers had a particularly big impact on me: Ruby Galili who taught history, and Peter Hudgell, head of English. I have no idea what qualifications they had, but they loved their respective subjects, knew tonnes about them, and were brilliant at communicating their learning and their enthusiasm. I still keep in touch with Ruby. She has ­always been supportive, then and now. She's like all great teachers – consistent.

Deborah Moggach, Author

My most inspiring teacher was my English teacher at Camden school for girls. She was called Margot Heinemann and wasn't like a teacher at all, she was a hugely intelligent woman with large dark eyes and a Past. This included ­being the lover of John Cornford, a beautiful young poet who died in the Spanish civil war, and what could be more potent than that? I adored her, we all did, because she treated us as grownups. Camden girls were famously grownup anyway, alarmingly so, but she seemed to take that for granted even more than the other staff. She introduced us to The Waste Land, to books outside the curriculum, and somehow to life itself, with all its tragedy as well as its possibilities.

Paddy Ashdown, Politician

John Eyre really changed my life. He persuaded me to join the poetry society (which all rugby playing "hearties" resolutely despised) and gave me a lifetime love of poetry, even getting me to write some for the school magazine. Eyre lit in me a fire for literature, especially Shakespeare, which has never gone out. He persuaded me to act in the school play (I was a wordless monk in Auden and Isherwood's The ­Ascent of F6). He even, with the assistance of another master in my house, got me to join a group to sing in (and win!) a madrigal competition – which, to anyone who knows my totally tuneless voice and incapacity to hold a melody, was nothing short of a miracle.

I went to see him for lunch in 2001, five years before he died. He had lost none of his old spark, or his impish and acerbic nature. He opened our last meeting with, "Ah yes, Ashdown – you were ­always an interesting boy. But you were one of the few to surprise me – I never thought you would get as far as you have. Still, there's no ­accounting for fate is there?"

Kamila Shamsie, Novelist

Through much of my childhood in Karachi I was painfully insecure. In classrooms, when the teacher asked a question, I'd never raise my hand because I'd worry I was wrong. All this changed in class five when Mrs Rehman was my class teacher. I still don't know how she did it – but in the kindness of her manner, in a certain way she had of asking a question and then looking directly at me as though to say, "Go on, speak up: if you're wrong, that's OK," she made me feel confident. It's not that I started to believe I always had the right answers; instead I came to see that not knowing the right answers wasn't such a problem. From Mrs Rehman I learnt to feel more comfortable in my own skin.

Michael ­Winner, Director and critic

When I was 17, I went to a private tutorial establishment that was based in Buckingham Gate and Guildford, and met the greatest educationalist I have ever met. Her name was KM Hobbs. She wrote to my parents and told them I was illiterate. She said, "If you think your son is ­going to get into Cambridge, you'll have a long wait." Within a year I had passed the ­necessary exams and I was a student at Cambridge, still at the age of 17. She turned a moron into something close to a genius. That was a great achievement.

Sharon Horgan, Comedian

I didn't have great luck with my teachers. I remember a series of chinless wonders and impotent bullies. And that was just the nuns. The only one I ever think about was a lady from my primary school days called Eileen Daly. She was tough as a brick, scary, ­opinionated, a bit of a dark horse, she'd tell you to sit down and shut up if she felt like it, but she had the ability to make kids feel like they were individually important. And she had a sense of humour. I remember once ­cycling with my friend to the village where she lived and knocking on her door, hoping to sell her some tickets for a sponsored charity thing. She invited us into her home. We sat around, drinking coffee and shooting the breeze with her, like equals. It was so exciting. She bought a load of tickets and we left buzzing from all the caffeine. The thought of making her proud makes me happy.

Bonnie Greer, Playwright and critic

One of my best teachers was my history professor, Dr Turner, at university at the beginning of the 1970s. He laid the facts down and was able to show how history moved in cycles. He predicted the disaster of Richard Nixon and Watergate, based on Nixon's activities in the 1950s. He let me see that history is written by the victors not the vanquished, and that it is always necessary to ­investigate – never to take ­anyone's word for anything.

Alexei Sayle, Author and actor

When I was at foundation art college in Southport there was a teacher there called Max Eden who had known ­Picasso in the 1950s. He was wonderfully ­dismissive about things like art A-level. "Just draw the fingernails and you'll pass," he told me. He also showed me how the way you lived your life could be a work of art. Recently I opened a new wing of Southport college and they gave me one of his paintings, which I treasure.

Kate Mosse, Author

I went to a comprehensive school in Sussex in the 1970s, where one teacher stood out, my A-level English teacher, Henry Thomas. He was by way of being an eccentric – tall, patrician, often done up in a white suit and Panama – kind of a Jean Brodie, though young and English. He was passionate about writing, reading, talking too, always engaged and enthusiastic, and made each lesson unique, fun, exciting. He didn't suffer fools, but in return treated us as thinking people with opinions worth listening to. As a result, we all raised our game and, in his lessons, were students rather than schoolgirls. Most important – and even harder these days of league tables and inflexibility – he encouraged us to think not about passing exams and grades, but rather the books themselves and the writers behind them. An exceptional teacher.

Rory Bremner, Comedian

Derek Swift taught me French at Wellington College. He was ­unconventional, original and ­inspiring, constantly inventing his own teaching materials and covering the whiteboard with words and phrases in anything from German to Serbo-Croat. In his class of 24, 21 got A grades and 3 got Bs. He taught us Russian in his spare time – four got As and two got Bs. We were like Alan Bennett's History Boys. He always challenged us, setting sixth-formers Oxbridge Finals prose exams and using Asterix and other comic strips as ­learning aids. He also introduced me to Voltaire's novel Candide – and therefore to satire.

Shazia Mirza, Comedian

My drama teacher Mrs Fisher-Jones was a great teacher. She always told me I was really funny and that I should develop that. I didn't know what that meant – I hadn't even heard of stand-ups then. She would let us write our own plays and do improv. There were loads of us who didn't go into the arts but still remember what a brilliant teacher she was. I still get Christmas cards from her now. She says she always knew what I would do.

Trevor Baylis, Inventor

I failed my 11+ and went to Dormers Wells secondary modern in Southall after the second world war. We were considered to be inferior to those at grammar school and we were made to feel that as well. To start with, I didn't want to know. Teaching me must have been like trying to communicate with a slab of tripe. One teacher in particular encouraged me to get hands on. He taught woodwork and metalwork and showed me, literally, how to use a spanner, , He would show you how to drill a bit of wood, how to sharpen your tools etc. He was a very bright type, a very intelligent chap but he was a very fatherly type too. This was before the days when health and safety came into the equation and we didn't have safety helmets but that helped me grow up as well. My teacher had to know about first aid because every lesson someone would cut their finger, so he was also a nurse as well.

David Nicholls, Writer

There was something of a double-act at my school (Toynbee Comprehensive, Eastleigh, 1977-1983); music teacher Mary Granger, and drama teacher David Dalton. Both showed incredible tolerance and enthusiasm, given that I had no discernible talent in either subject.

Miss Granger, in particular, was obliged to hear me alternate Imagine and In The Air Tonight on the rehearsal room piano, often for hours at a time. Both teachers gave a great deal of their own time to pursuing out-of-hours projects. "Strict but fair" is an awful cliche, but both managed to combine passion for their subjects with discipline and rigour. They also managed to conquer the suspicion and indifference of the (male) students. I sometimes wish that I'd had the same inspiration in more "sensible" vocational subjects. Instead I spent far too much of my adult life pursuing a career as an actor, without ever really having the ability to act.

Glyn Maxwell, Poet

In the old days there was a "seventh-term" set aside for Oxbridge candidates. There were only two or three of us going for it at my school, so we'd wander round, in and out of the building as we pleased, beholden to no one, a vaguely celestial "upper-upper-sixth".

One of my Oxbridge tutors was a man called Peter Gardiner. What was odd about Mr Gardiner was that he'd come from a glittering career in various top private schools – headmaster at one of the best – and, for his own reasons, had decided to finish his career as deputy head at our Welwyn Garden comprehensive. It seemed to me like this chap had walked right out of Greyfriars into Grange Hill. We made fun of his accent and his two posh middle names.

I went to him for one-to-one coaching in English. I'd shamble into his office reeking of smoke from the toilets, I'd not have read anything he recommended, I had all the miserable self-pity of the fortunate and promising. And this fiftysomething old gentleman – I didn't know any gentlemen – looked at me with the face of a passionate boy whose love of books and stories had filled his life to the brim.

We were different generations: I was the old at their worst: mind made up, black-or-white, full of myself, bad habits. He was the young at their best: open, innocent, self-effacing, eager to share. I think a great teacher isn't talking to you: he's talking to someone he can see inside you, so that in time you shed who you think you are, like an old skin, and walk out into the sun again as young as you can be.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty

I don't think it's enough that teachers just need to be an elite graduate – you have to like children and be skilled at communicating with them, so I would challenge the idea that you have to be an academic genius to be a good teacher. It is more about opening up children to the possibilities that come from learning. Many of my best teachers taught music. I was never going to be a professional musician, but that didn't matter – to have a teacher who took an interest in me, and shared their passion was hugely valuable.
I couldn't pick out a single teacher, I had many who inspired me. The difference between the teachers I loved and those I didn't was whether they treated me as a person, engaged in a debate. You may find this hard to believe, but I was probably quite a challenging, argumentative kid. The teachers who were best were the ones who realised how important intelligent dissent is, rather than churning out people who become cogs in the wheel. Not all were like this, but enough of my teachers respected me, encouraged my curiosity and dissenting nature.

Lynne Truss, Author and journalist

I went to Tiffin Girls in Kingston from 1966 to 1973, and my recollection is that it never occurred to any of us to criticise the teachers, or appreciate them very much either. In the run-up to my history O-level, I did realise I wasn't learning enough, but I blamed the period, not the teacher. To save the situation, I asked her whether I could look at some exam papers, to see what else I could answer questions on. Then I just mugged up this other stuff by myself. The best teacher I had taught religious knowledge, so I took it to A-level, despite being a non-believer. His name was Levi Dawson, and I'm pretty sure, now I come to think of it, that I looked up to him mainly because he was the first person I'd ever met who had written a book.

Dinos Chapman, Artist

I hated every single one of my teachers and if any one of them are still alive, I hope they read this. They were horrible old fascists, convinced you could beat education into kids, and they threatened to cut my hair because I had lovely locks back then. It obviously traumatised me because now I'm completely bald.

John Huggan talks to the R&A's Peter Dawson about the art of making the Road hole relevant again.

SB Nation's Ryan Ballengee outlines the steps golf needs to take in order to increase its popularity over the next 10 years, which includes continuing to expand global and seeing less white male faces during broadcasts.

No. 1: The creation of an elite, global professional circuit

The World Golf Championships are now entering their second decade of existence, and golf still lacks a truly global series.  Until the HSBC Champions event in China was bestowed the title of a World Golf Championship in 2009, all but one WGC was being played in the United States.  That was an insult to the original vision of the WGCs, which was supposed to be a global series presenting the best players in the world.  Only part of that vision has been realized to date.

Greg Norman had it right: golf needs to have a way of presenting its elite talent on a regular basis.  The events that best do that are more or less informally defined.  The problem is that they are scattered across tours, geography, and governing bodies.  Golf needs to come together to formally define the dozen or fifteen events that are golf's most prestigious.  While this will clearly define a tier below the majors, it will also define a tier of events deemed unworthy of the game's best.  That is an understood reality in the game today, so formalizing it should not be a shock to anyone.  Having a series of events that fans know will feature only the best in the world can do nothing but good for the game.  It brings the top players to different places in the world and will help grow the sport's popularity in places where the only thing that brings a great player today is a seven figure appearance fee.

No. 2: The continued displacement of the WASP in golf

The 2000s were a fantastic decade for the growth of golf around the world.  A mixed-race guy dominated the sport in a way perhaps never seen.  The first Asian male won a major championship.  Asian women dominated golf so much that it prompted race-baiting commentary of how they were ruining the game.  An Argentine called The Duck won two majors, all the while chain smoking his way down the fairway.

Having fewer white people as the face of the game helped the sport.  White Americans who watch the sport on TV might disagree, but they are not facing the reality that golf is a global game.  Courses are closing in America as fewer people are playing the sport.  Meanwhile, Russia, China, India, and South America are the golfing frontiers.  If golf is to grow for the benefit of everyone, the white guy has to take a back seat for a little while.

And for God's sake, can the PGA Tour have more than one African-American guy on Tour at a time?  Thank God that the lone part-African-American guy is the best athlete in the world.

No. 3: A formal rollback of the golf ball

The USGA and R&A introduced rules that kicked in at the start of 2010 concerned the specifications of golf club grooves.  The idea was to place a greater emphasis on hitting the fairway from the tee.  Many analysts, including myself, thought it was a back door way to roll back how far the golf ball can actually fly.  In a recent interview with Global Golf Post, R&A Secretary Peter Dawson denied that was part of the intent of the new groove specs.

Well, it should be.  The length that the golf ball flies did incredible damage to many of the hallowed courses in the game.  Augusta National was bastardized in response to technology and is only now beginning to return to its former self.  The world famous Road Hole at St. Andrew's will be lengthened some 35 yards for the '10 Open Championship in an act of blasphemy.  Merion will host the 2013 US Open perhaps for the final time because of how technology can be used to overpower a cathedral of golf strategy.

The R&A and USGA need to not sit idly by while the distance of the golf ball ruins many of the courses that players have loved for decades, if not centuries.  The grooves ruling was a good start, but equipment manufacturers will find a way to engineer golf balls that beat the new specs and still allow the ball to fly ungodly distances.  Creating a formal rollback from the current standard will put equipment manufacturers in small enough of a box to prohibit this kind of bulldozing of history from happening.

Rees Jones may have a little less work to do, but that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make.

No. 4: Have more golf tournaments with different formats

In the early dawn of professional golf, tournaments were presented in a variety of formats.  Some had two man teams.  Some had four man teams.  Some were match play, including a major championship.  Stroke play - how the overwhelming majority of events are presented today - was not the only option on the table.

The 2000s saw the death of the International in Colorado, a tournament played using the Modified Stableford scoring system.  I loved that tournament precisely because it was so different.  It made players think slightly differently, and the outcome was more exciting golf.  The death of the International was the official dawn of the age of only stroke play.

Golf needs to restore tournaments with a variety of different formats.  How cool would it be if there was more match play on Tour?  February Madness does not have to be a novelty.

It would be amazing to watch a $10,000 Nassau instead of my measly $1 Nassau when I play.

Part of the problem with golf is that it is always the same thing.  It's not nearly as repetitive as always turning left, but it does get kind of boring.  Jazzing up how professional golf is played on a weekly basis is in order, especially since the golf season now never seems to end.

No. 5: Better golf announcers

Baseball has been partially defined by the amazing men that have been delivering play by play over the air on radio and TV.  The greats describe the game so well that it enhances the experience.  Right now, golf really does not have that.

Jim Nantz is a nice man, but he is too lame when he broadcasts golf.  Dan Hicks is pretty good, but Johnny Miller negates him and makes me watch golf on NBC on mute.  Kelly Tilghman is universally panned for her work on Golf Channel.  Can our sport not get together and identify some people who can do for golf in this generation what the likes of Jack Whittaker did in the last generation?

Golf has a lot of down time between shots.  There is a large mental side to the sport where there is little action to observe.  Yes, visual presentation matters, but golf on TV desperately needs announcers and analysts that make the game come alive to hardcore and casual fans alike.

The sport has a few, like David Feherty and Nick Faldo (sometimes).  But the diaspora of golf telecasts makes it tough for every tournament to have consistently good announcing.  In kind of the same way that Fox completely botched announcing the BCS for the last four years, golf has had the same kind of turmoil on a weekly basis.

Maybe the way to go is simply have the BBC's Peter Alliss go into a studio and record every sound in the English language.  That way, when he passes on we will be able to replicate his quips using modern technology.

No. 6: A way to speed up golf on all levels

There is nothing worse than a six hour round of golf.  It's slow, at least two hours too long, and makes me drink way too much beer to have a good time.  I'm trying to watch my weight.

Part of the reason that amateurs play so slowly is because of guys like Sergio Garcia and Ben Crane and Tiger Woods that take 11 minutes to figure out what club to hit.  Golf needs to be faster at a professional level to encourage weekend hackers to speed it up also.

One of the major reasons that normal people stop playing golf is because it takes so long.  If the pro tours could figure out how to speed up the game for everyone involved, the after effects would help the sport on a number of levels.

That's not to say that players can't or shouldn't take their time when a million dollars is on the line.  It's just that not every shot has the million riding on it.  Speed it up, tour pros, so that I can get home faster and complain about you on the Internet.

Andrew Dawson discusses his one-man show about the Apollo II moon landing.

Bentek Sees U.S. Gas-Productivity Gain Displacing Imports, Coal

(Bloomberg) -- Surging productivity from U.S. fields will end the need for natural-gas imports and provide enough additional fuel to run vehicle fleets and reduce coal-fired power generation, said consulting firm Bentek Energy LLC.

“We may very well be on the cusp of a completely different energy era than we’ve had for the last 30 or 40 years,” Bentek Chief Executive Officer Porter Bennett said yesterday in an interview in Bloomberg’s Houston bureau.

Bentek, which tracks gas flows across the nation, predicted in 2008 that output gains could push Canadian imports and liquefied-gas cargoes sent by tanker ships out of the U.S. market by 2020. That was before advances in technology that proved last year to invalidate old formulas for predicting gas output based on the number of active drilling rigs, he said.

Call to extract the UK's remaining gas supplies

The offshore energy industry has warned that pressure on gas supplies has shown that more should be done to extract the UK's remaining supplies.

Oil and Gas UK, the trade body, said that improved storage facilities should be a priority.

They also warned against downplaying the remaining potential of gas supplies in British waters.

Crude edges higher as thousands of jobs vanish

NEW YORK – Crude prices edged higher to end the week, despite huge supplies and tens of thousands of lost jobs in the U.S. last month.

Energy prices have rallied for weeks on some signs that manufacturing activity had picked in the U.S. and China, but again it was the falling dollar that inflated the price of crude Friday.

Gasoline Reaches 15-Month High on Refinery Fire, Unit Shutdown

(Bloomberg) -- Gasoline jumped to a 15-month high on speculation that inventories in the New York Harbor market may tighten after units were shut at refineries in Newfoundland and New Jersey.

Border oil dispute worsens fears about Iran's influence over Iraqi government

BAGHDAD -- A dispute between Iraq and Iran over an inactive oil well has become a rallying cry for Iraqi nationalists and exacerbated fears of excessive Iranian influence in Baghdad.

The fight for Fakka oil well No. 4 began late last month when a contingent of 11 Iranian troops occupied the relatively insignificant well in Iraq's Maysan province near the shared border. Forces from both sides are now dug in a few hundred yards apart, the oil well between them, about 250 miles east of Baghdad.

The incident has inflamed passions in Iraq over two deeply sensitive subjects: sovereignty and oil.

Venezuela's Chavez devalues currency

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez devalued Venezuela's bolivar currency on Friday, attempting to resuscitate local production but running the risk of worsening inflation in the South American oil-exporter's flagging economy.

Facing a recession and galloping prices in the 11th year of his presidency, Chavez had long been pressured by business for an adjustment of the over-valued exchange rate, but was not expected to make the move so close to an election.

EnCana's ticking timebomb

British Columbia’s own version of King Solomon’s mines lies in a bed of deep, gas-bearing shale in the northeastern quadrant of the province. Locked up, molecule by molecule, within the stratified rock, is a vast reservoir of natural gas—fuel so cheap, efficient and clean-burning that most Canadian cities have been using it for residential heating since the 1960s. Six or seven years ago, new technologies and royalty incentives made it feasible to extract the gas from the shale. But buried treasures always seem to come with a curse, and, if you study a lump of the heavy shale with a magnifying glass, you can see the tiny pores where the bad news resides.

Most of Western Canada’s gas deposits, including the Montney play, near Dawson Creek, B.C., contain hydrogen sulphide—one good breath of it can kill you.

Chevron oil pipeline attacked in Nigeria - sources

ABUJA (Reuters) - A Nigerian crude oil pipeline, operated by U.S. oil major Chevron (CVX.N), was attacked by unknown gunmen in the Niger Delta early Friday, security sources said.

"The Chevron Makaraba crude pipeline located in Delta state was attacked early today by some unknown persons," one security source said.

Coal-rich province rations electricity

BEIJING: China's coal-abundant Shanxi rationed electricity as the province reported the most severe power shortage in three years as the current coal output fell short of demand drove up by the prolonged icy weather.

Two major thermal power plants in the capital city of Taiyuan, namely the branch factories of the China Guodian Corporation and the China Datang Corporation, saw power coal reserves enough for less than the warning level of seven days of use.

U.S. Girds for Icy Weekend as Europe Braces for Snow

(Bloomberg) -- Electricity use in Texas hit a winter high and orange-juice futures rose by an exchange limit today as the U.S. Northeast and South girded for a frigid weekend. Europe braced for more snow.

The forecasts come after a week of storms and cold that have hampered coal and grain shipments, shut down trains and livestock markets and sent energy demand soaring across the Northern Hemisphere.

Pipeline bomber faces new charges

Only last fall, investigators had sought Ludwig's help in the case, after saying they had dismissed him as a suspect. Ludwig even wrote an open letter to "the Person(s) responsible for the bombings," urging a halt to the explosions.

Eco-terrorism expert Paul Joose, who teaches at the University of Alberta, says the charge of extortion makes clear there is a bigger mystery behind the investigation and Ludwig's role.

Gazprom granted more time to complete exploration work

NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday allowed Russia's Gazprom to carry out exploration work over 18 months to make up for delays in work already allotted.

Gazprom was an operator under the NELP-1 round of auction of oil and gas blocks in the north east coast, but its work had run into delays.

The Future of the Southwest: Localization and Carrying Capacity

For the holidays this year, I stuck with my vow to never fly again at Christmas and opted to drive the roughly 1,600 mile round trip instead.

...On the way, I had ample time to muse about the future and take in the on-the-ground reality of the Southwest. Foremost in my mind was the question: How will these communities fare in the transition to a localized, renewably-powered future?

As I explained in my final columns of last year, I am pretty much done with talking about the problems of peak oil (really, "peak everything") and climate change. That message is tired, and the tipping points have arrived. The time for ringing the alarm bell and counting on federal or state solutions has passed. From now on, we all need to be eyes-front, focused on what we can do locally.

What Happens When the Wells Run Dry?

One nagging question that the industrial world has been asking itself since the discovery of the first oil well is what happens when the wells begin to run dry. The answer is relatively simple to imagine. We had a dry run, so to speak, when Dubai’s economy tanked a few years ago. And although the causes of Dubai’s ills and ails were financial and not oil related, the drama which unfolded gave us a watered-down version of what might transpire if and when the oil wells stop producing.

But before we run the Armageddon tape that the world will stop functioning because of lack of oil, let’s all take a deep breath and think again. The oil companies, the people who manufacture cars and airplanes and legions of scientists and inventors have all been planning for that day. And as far-fetched as it might seem to some of us, that day will undoubtedly come, very probably within our lifetime.

Markham plan could contain sprawl

A groundbreaking plan to freeze Markham's expansion onto prime farmland could voluntarily take the fast-growing suburban powerhouse where no GTA municipality has dared go: upward but not outward.

Several councillors are pushing for a permanent "food belt" within the town's borders that would be preserved for agriculture until at least 2031. This is land politicians and developers have typically considered ripe for development.

Bicycling safely into the future

It is obvious to anyone who is currently informed about the converging trends of peak oil, declining material living standards in America and much of the rest of the Western world, and global environmental stresses, that one of the major outcomes will be a radical restructuring and down-sizing of our current energy-wasteful systems for transportation.

As predicted by James Howard Kunstler in his visionary book, "The Long Emergency," everyday life in the future for most people will become intensely localized. Future generations will, of necessity, have to produce and consume essential products on a local basis, economies of scale will greatly diminish, and personal travel will be greatly circumscribed by the rising costs of both petroleum fuels and the vehicles that run on these fuels.

China to Increase Energy Supplied by Fossil Fuel Alternatives

(Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, may source as much as 13 percent of its energy supply from alternatives to fossil fuels by 2015, Han Wenke, head of energy research at the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a conference in Beijing today.

The country will boost development of hydro, wind and solar energy, and may also increase nuclear power capacity to as much as 40 gigawatts before 2015 and to 76 gigawatts by 2020, he added.

New smog rule could surprise some counties

LOS ANGELES - Parts of the country that haven't worried about air pollution may soon be in the fight California has faced for decades: cleaning up smog.

Stricter rules proposed Thursday by the Obama administration could more than double the number of counties across the country that are in violation of clean air standards. That would likely have a big impact on other parts of the nation since California already sets stringent standards for cars, ships and trucks.

Pine beetles transform B.C. forests into greenhouse enemy

In a single season, an army of pine beetles has transformed our allies in the battle against climate change into the enemy.

Now the province is in a race against nature, as one billion beetle-killed trees across the province slowly seep the greenhouse gases they had so generously stored up in their decades of growth.

China would never accept checks at Copenhagen: official

China was never going to accept outside reviews in Copenhagen of its efforts to slow greenhouse gas emissions, a top official said on Saturday, after critics accused Beijing of blocking the talks.

Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, told a forum that Beijing achieved its goal at the climate talks by ensuring aid for developing nations was not linked to external checks.

Beleaguered U.S. climate bill seeks Obama lift

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech to Congress could indicate how badly he wants a global warming bill, which opponents say will cost U.S. jobs and raise prices -- a scary prospect for politicians trying to ride out a horrible economy in an election year.

Obama, who played a dramatic role in negotiating a nonbinding international climate change accord last month in Copenhagen, now faces a tough economic and environmental balancing act to win the climate change legislation in 2010.

A Rebuttal to a Cool Climate Paper

Richard Lindzen, the meteorology professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology best known for his longstanding rejection of research pointing to dangerous climate disruption from human-generated greenhouse gases, has been bluntly challenged over a popular paper in Geophysical Research Letters last year that he co-wrote with post-doctoral researcher Yong-Sang Choi. The paper, assessing tropical sea surface temperatures in relation to flows of energy into and out of the atmosphere, asserted that the climate system was far less sensitive to human actions than the predominant view had it.

In a followup paper accepted for publication in the same journal that examines the same question using the same sea-temperature data sets, four scientists say the Lindzen-Choi conclusions are “seriously in error.” When one flaw is fixed, they say, the analysis produces a much warmer estimate of future climate. But the result gets hotter still, they add, if an objective method is used to select the sea data in place of the choices made by the M.I.T. team.

Why Antarctica isn't melting much – yet

Antarctica is warming, but not melting anything like as much as expected. In fact, during the continent's summer this time last year, there was less melting than at any time in the 30 years that we have had reliable satellite measurements of the region.

The apparent contradiction is explained by the seasonal pattern of warming, say two glaciologists writing in Eos, the weekly newspaper of the American Geophysical Union. The continent's winters and springs have warmed most, but it is still too cold in these seasons for anything to melt. Melting in Antarctica happens almost entirely in the summers, which have warmed very little, say Andrew Monaghan of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and Marco Tedesco of the City College of New York.

Coral can recover from climate change damage

Scientists and environmentalists have warned that coral reefs may not be able to recover from the damage caused by climate change and that these unique environments could soon be lost forever. Now, this research adds weight to the argument that reducing levels of fishing is a viable way of protecting the world's most delicate aquatic ecosystems.

Photo/Nitin Vadukul

Given how easily Andrew Dawson's Space Panorama conjures up the famous 1969 moon landing, using nothing other than his dexterous fingers and a flat black table, I can at last understand why some people still insist that the whole thing was a hoax. Then again, while Dawson's pulling off a sort of theatrical prestidigitation--epic mime, if you will--his act is no simple trick. Instead, it's a sublime ode to human accomplishment, aided by Gavin Robertson's jovially recorded narration and Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony. It puts the "special" in "special effect"; no matter how much money James Cameron throws at a project, it will never be as genuine.

That's because Dawson's Space Panorama forces the audience to be just as imaginative as he is. Though at first words accompany the gestures--undulating hands are butterflies, missiles are fingers whipping through the air--they are just as often left behind, allowing the triangular shape formed by connecting one's thumbs and pointers to speak for itself as it slowly moves through space. In addition, the specific intimacy of each action gives us a new appreciation for scale: if Dawson's palm represents the moon, Luna, then that ship is less than a fingernail in the air. As Shostakovich's music builds to the first crescendo, Dawson shows us a fingertip-jeep moving across the table toward a giant, towering arm-shuttle. The scene shifts and suddenly Dawson's entire body is aping that of the nonchalant driver of that jeep, a man content to just chew gum. A moment later, his fingers have turned to legs, legs that truly turn such small steps into such great leaps.