Drama At The Gurning Championships

Quick action required:

The winner of the Women's World Gurning Championship was rushed to hospital at the weekend after she collapsed at the end of her performance.

Anne Woods was taken to West Cumberland Hospital moments after triumphing at the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria.

The 62-year-old's four-minute performance appeared to take its toll and she suddenly fell to the ground outside the compeition room after being declared the winner.

Male champion gurner Tommy Mattinson, who won the world title for the 12th time last weekend, said: 'I came outside to get some fresh air and Anne was lying on the floor.

'I got help immediately and she was rushed to hospital.

'Being on stage is physically exerting and it also gets very very hot inside the competition room.

'Anne is getting on a bit now, and this won't have helped.

Passing The Hat For "Godspell"

I can’t help but recite Mel Brooks on this:

Max: The two cardinal rules of producing. One: Never put your own money in the show.

Leo: And two?

Max: [yelling] Never put your own money in the show!

But since the scale of Broadway is so large these days, maybe it's time to rethink the rules? :

Davenport wants you — yes, you — to help produce his next Broadway show.

Hoping to raise $5 million for a revival of Stephen Schwartz's "Godspell," he's offering public stakes as low as $1,000 — a tiny amount compared to most single Broadway investments that often begin at $10,000 and can top $100,000. He thinks, based on the regulatory hoops through which he's jumped, that this is the first time such a scheme has been attempted.

"There are thousands and thousands and thousands of people that love Broadway all over the country. But they just don't get a chance to raise their hand and say, 'How can I help?'" Davenport says.

What do prospective investors get for their $1,000? Their name on a poster and on the show's website, as well as a promotional button that reads, "I'm a Broadway Producer!" They also get the risk of losing it all.

"I thought about for a second and a half doing it for $100 but that would be 50,000 people. And there's a certain kind of experience that I want these investors to have: I'm calling every single person who is interested in this show. I want them to know who the guy is who's behind the show, I want them to know how risky a proposition it is, I want them to hear it from me," says Davenport, 38.

...Of course, a natural question is: Will he invest his own cash into "Godspell"?

"I'm sure I'll have some money in the show. I believe in it," he says. "You better be ready to write that check and want to do it. That's what producing is all about. If you don't believe in it, how is anyone else going to believe in it?"

And He's Really Picky About Preferring Well-Drained, Frost-Free Hillsides Too

From The Onion:

WASHINGTON—According to a poll released Tuesday, nearly 20 percent of U.S. citizens now believe Barack Obama is a cactus, the most Americans to identify the president as a water-retaining desert plant since he took office.

The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found a sharp rise in the number of Americans who say they firmly believe Obama was either born a cactus, became a cactus during his youth, or has questionable links to the Cactaceae family.

...According to the poll, Obama has lost favor among many voters who supported his candidacy in 2008 but have since come to doubt he is a mammal. While these Americans concede Obama may not specifically be a cactus, most believe he is a plant of some kind, with 18 percent saying the president is a ficus, 37 percent believing him to be a grain such as wheat or millet, and 12 percent convinced he is an old-growth forest in Northern California.

..."You can't go a day without hearing how Obama's a radical cactus sympathizer who wants to sap America of all its drinking water, or how he was actually born in the Kalahari Desert," said media critic Lynn Pelmont, referring to cable news outlets that suggest the president has prickly spines he uses to protect himself from thirsty animals. "For a man who prides himself on delivering a coherent message, there's an awful lot of confusion out there about whether he's a Harvard Law graduate or a leafless flowering shrub."

"He must speak frankly to the American people about his mammalian background," Pelmont added. "If not, it's only a matter of time before people start believing those fringe bloggers who claim the president of the United States is actually an old washing machine."

..."If the president says he is a human being, I'll take him at his word," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday on Meet the Press. "Though I've never heard him complain about being thirsty. Not once. That could be a coincidence, I suppose, but it's really not my place to say."

During a Wednesday morning briefing, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs once again denied that President Obama is a cactus, citing numerous physiological attributes of the nation's chief executive, including his ability to walk upright and to manipulate objects with his opposable thumbs.

"Cacti don't talk," said Gibbs, shaking his head. "They just don't."

..."I don't care what he says or what his people say or what anybody else says," 48-year-old Kansas resident Jake Nolan told reporters. "The guy's a cactus, plain and simple. I mean, Christ, look at him."

Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat, Fat!

Fed Up

A Mexican town goes berserk (and I can't say I blame them):

Ascension is a farming community of some 15,000 people, about 100 miles south of the border with New Mexico. In the past two years, kidnapping and extortion have been rampant.

...The public fury happened Tuesday when an armed group allegedly kidnapped a 16-year-old girl from her family's seafood restaurant. The kidnappers escaped down a gravel road, and word of the missing girl spread quickly.

Soon, a group of about 200 residents began the chase. Three of the alleged kidnappers were captured by the Mexican military, who have a presence in the town.
Three others fled into a nearby cotton field, where one was later found dead. The other two were hunted down and beaten by the mob from Ascension.

"When they found them, it was a direct aggression," says Ignacio Rodriguez, a local kitchen-cabinet maker who was elected to head city council next month.

The girl was rescued unharmed by the residents.

...Federal police eventually took custody of the two young men and drove them to the town's small military base.

Residents say at least 1,000 people then caught up with them at the base and broke through the gates. The mob got ahold of the suspected kidnappers and beat them a second time.

The crowd then held them for seven hours, locked in a hot vehicle where they eventually died.

...Rodriguez, the future city councilman, says he's not proud of how his town responded to the kidnapping. Mob violence is not common in Chihuahua, one of the most violent states in the country.

Rodriguez says citizens in Ascension are forming a sort of neighborhood watch committee and are still deciding how the committee will operate.

"If the authorities can't protect us," he says, "we must protect ourselves."

Whither Matthew?

I'm a little worried about where Matthew will end up going. Model forecasts diverge at Days 4 & 5:

THE INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE IS 275/15. FOR THE NEXT 36-48 HOURS... MATTHEW IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE IN A WEST TO WEST-NORTHWEST DIRECTION TO THE SOUTH OF A SUBTROPICAL RIDGE THAT EXTENDS FROM THE ATLANTIC WESTWARD INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. THE TRACK GUIDANCE IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT DURING THAT TIME AND THERE IS FAIRLY HIGH CONFIDENCE IN THAT PART OF THE FORECAST. IN 2-3 DAYS...THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE RIDGE IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AS A STRONG MID-LATITUDE TROUGH MOVES INTO THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN A WEAKENING OF THE STEERING CURRENTS AND A DECELERATION OF THE CYCLONE. THEREAFTER...THE MODEL SOLUTIONS DIVERGE SIGNIFICANTLY...WITH SEVERAL OF THEM SHOWING RATHER COMPLEX SCENARIOS. THE GFS...UKMET...AND ECMWF ALL MOVE MATTHEW WELL INLAND OVER THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA IN 2-3 DAYS. AFTER THAT TIME...THE GFS AND ECMWF ACTUALLY WEAKEN MATTHEW...THEN DEVELOP A SECOND CYCLONE OVER THE NORTHWEST CARIBBEAN SEA. ON THE OTHER HAND...THE NOGAPS...GFDL....AND HWRF KEEP MATTHEW AS THE PRIMARY SYSTEM AND SHOW IT TURNING NORTHWARD ALONG THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA AT DAYS 4 AND 5. NEEDLESS TO SAY...THERE IS A MUCH HIGHER DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY IN THE 4 AND 5 DAY FORECASTS THAN NORMAL. FOR NOW THE OFFICIAL FORECAST HAS BEEN ADJUSTED CLOSER TO THE MULTI-MODEL CONSENSUS...TVCN...AND IS WEST OF THE PREVIOUS FORECAST BEYOND 72 HOURS.

Foreclosed, No Matter What You Do

But I paid cash!:

When Jason Grodensky bought his modest Fort Lauderdale home in December, he paid cash. But seven months later, he was surprised to learn that Bank of America had foreclosed on the house, even though Grodensky did not have a mortgage.

Grodensky knew nothing about the foreclosure until July, when he learned that the title to his home had been transferred to a government-backed lender. "I feel like I'm hanging in the wind and I'm scared to death," said Grodensky. "How did some attorney put through a foreclosure illegally?"

...In Florida courts, which have been swamped with foreclosure cases for several years, mistakes "happen all the time," said foreclosure defense attorney Matt Weidner in St. Petersburg. "It's just not getting reported."

And the legal efforts required to resolve a foreclosure mistake are complicated. "Unwrapping it is like unwrapping Fort Knox," said Carol Asbury, a Fort Lauderdale foreclosure attorney. "It's very difficult."

Like They Say, Civil Wars Are The Worst Kind

In France, the libertines and the nudists clash:

The exhibitionist behaviour has been blamed on the "libertines", a group of swingers who have descended on the town in recent years.

To make matters worse, the group has been accused of walking about in their clothes and mocking the "real" nudists, the paper said.

...She called on the mayor to intervene before there was an "explosion of libertine behaviour in non-nudist areas" of the town.

Traditional nudists support the move. One told the paper that they had moved to the area because they wanted "a natural life" but that they had ended up living "surrounded by wild animals".

Sesame Street Pulls Katy Perry Segment

Oh no! The humanity!:

The children's show says it won't air a taped segment featuring the "California Gurls" singer and Elmo. The pop star - who is known for her risque outfits - wore a gold bustier top as she sang a version of her hit "Hot N Cold." But some felt it was too revealing for the kid set.

Sesame Street said in a statement Thursday that in light of the "feedback we've received" after the bit was aired on YouTube, they won't include it on the show.

"Rent" (School Edition) - RSP Youth Musical Theater Workshop Master Class

Left: "Rent" - Mark (Cole Souza) and ensemble.

A fine evening with the RSP folks! I attended at the invitation of John Harris (whom I still have not met). Saw several folks that I haven't seen in awhile, like as James Chavez-Glica Hernandez. RSP had a raffle, and Sally won the big basket full of candy, and videos, and what-not.



Left: "Rent" - Mark (Cole Souza) and Roger (Daric Carvajal).


I was curious how "Rent - School Edition" (the same version that elicited so much trouble at CDM in the South Coast last year) might be different than the regular version of "Rent". As far as I could tell, the two versions are very similar: not quite identical, but very similar!

Left: "Rent" - Mark (Cole Souza) and Angel (Kenny Gagni).

Left: "Rent" - Mark (Cole Souza) and Angel (Kenny Gagni).

Left: Roger (Daric Carvajal) and Mimi (Karen Harris).

Left: Angel (Kenny Gagni) and Collins (Spenser Micetich).

Left: "Rent" - Mark (Cole Souza), Joanne (Haleyanne Freedman), and Tango Dancer.


Left: Nonplussed NYC Ensemble.

Left: "On The Street"

Left: "Over The Moon" - Maureen (Emily Kelly).

Left: "Over The Moon" - Maureen (Emily Kelly).

Left: "La Vie Boheme" - Collins (Spenser Micetich), Angel (Kenny Gagni), a ghostlike Benny (Gabe Figueroa), Mimi (Karen Harris), ensemble member, Roger (Daric Carvajal), second ensemble member.

Left: "La Vie Boheme" - Mark (Cole Souza), and Company.

Mark (Cole Souza), Collins (Spenser Micetich), Angel (Kenny Gagni), Joanne (Haleyanne Freedman), among others.

Left: "Seasons of Love" - Company.

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Nice Productive Morning

Playing Darwin's Intergalactic Adventure.

Japanese Refuse Paris Hilton

Awkward consequences for the drugs:

Paris Hilton is on her way home from Japan after being denied entry because of her guilty pleas to drug-possession charges in Las Vegas on Monday. Hilton was questioned for about six hours over two days, an immigration official said.

...Hilton's rep said the socialite was "forced to postpone" a business tour through Asia that included stops in Tokyo, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. Paris never made it out of Narita, Japan, where she spent the night in an airport hotel. She was supposed to appear Wednesday at a fashion show in Tokyo's trendy Roppongi district, but the event was canceled.

Paris and her sister, Nicky Hilton, had arrived on a chartered jet that left the U.S. on Monday.

Spongebob In The Gulf

Clever road-side signs in Grand Isle, Louisiana:

Flapping Human-Powered Aircraft

Fun!:

HPO The Snowbird from U of T Engineering on Vimeo.

A University of Toronto engineering graduate student has made aviation history, successfully flying the first ever human-powered flapping-wing aircraft continuously.

Todd Reichert, a PhD candidate at the university’s Institute of Aerospace Studies, piloted the wing-flapping aircraft, sustaining both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds and covering a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.

The world-record flight took place Aug. 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ont. It was witnessed by the vice-president (Canada) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale – the world body governing air sports and aeronautical world records. It was also Canada’s first successful human-powered aircraft flight.

The human-powered ornithopter – named the Snowbird – weighs just over 42 kilograms and has a wing span of 32 metres.

...Reichert flew the ornithopter by putting his feet on pedals and pushing with his legs. The energy stroke is forward with his legs. A system of pulleys and lines attached to the wings would pull down when he pushed forward, explained advisor and Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto James D. DeLaurier in an interview with the Star.

“The aerodynamics and the stored elasticity of the wing spar would bring the wing back up. The down stroke was the human-powered part – that’s how birds and bats fly.”

Losing Access To More YPT Pictures

Since 2002, when I started this blog, I've been given conditional access to photograph many of DMTC's YPT performances, based on fragile understandings associated with me being DMTC archivist. I have shared these photos via this blog, but kept constantly in mind that I could lose access at any time, depending on the state-of-mind of the YPT Board and parents.

These longstanding-but-fragile understandings now appear to be jeopardized by the current YPT Board's determination to enforce rules regarding no photographs of YPT performances: no exceptions permitted. So, I might not be able to share any more DMTC YPT photos, at least, not through this blog, or, at least, not at this time. It may be that an understanding will be reached some time in the future, however, but not yet. So, no "Grease" photos.

Part of the reason I shared these photos was that YPT shows need promotion, and the Internet was a good way to carry that process out. In a time of retrenchment, newspapers could no longer be relied upon to carry out that function. People had to do their own promotion and discussion.

With the evolution and maturation of Web Sites like Facebook, it may be only natural that folks involved in the YPT take back full control of the promotion process. It's a natural evolution.

In any event, I'm a bit miffed by all this, and I think I'll go outside and yell at Jupiter, or something. They say it's about as bright as it will ever get in my lifetime!

Katy Perry Singing Hot N Cold on Sesame Street

Sympathy For Pennsylvania Prison Inmates

Worse than tasing grandmothers:

According to a lawsuit filed in federal court, D.J. Goodson claims he was forced to watch "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and "Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami."

...Goodson says he developed "extreme emotional distress due to their outrageousness of actions."

Goodson claims he's permanently scarred from watching domestic abuse (a boxing match on the show featuring Kim), emotional abuse (rantings courtesy of Kourtney and "paramour Scott") and racism (Khloe referring to a baby doll as "the black baby").

Goodson wants $75,000 in damages.

"Singin' In The Rain" - Sunday Pix

"Rent" Featured In SN&R

Left: Joseph Boyette as Angel and Rudy 'Roods' Brown as Collins .


Musicals get so little mention in SN&R these days that I almost overlooked their review of RSP's "Rent":

Darryl Stroh’s choreography goes beyond merely energetic to take on the acrobatic; Voyce and Shanta Robinson (Mimi) have voices that are well-matched for an intense and self-destructive pair of lovers; Rudy “Roods” Brown plays Tom Collins as the moral center of the group; Robinson’s Mark is less nebbishy and more anxiety-ridden; Ali Llacer, as Benny the landlord, combines tough and frustrated with affectionate; and Lorraine De Arco (Joanne) and Lindsey Grimes (Maureen) make the on-again, off-again passion between their characters believable in a heart-stopping duet (“Take Me or Leave Me”).

And Boyette? His Angel dances and sings and loves—all with a passion far beyond his small frame.

That Was An Exciting Five Months - I Wonder When The Next One Will Be?

BP's Macondo well is 'dead':

“We can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead,” Adm. Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard officer who leads the federal spill response, said in a statement. The well, he said, “poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico.”

Crews aboard the Development Driller III rig conducted a pressure test early Sunday on cement that had been pumped into the bottom of the once-gushing well through a relief well. The test confirmed that the cement formed an effective, and final, seal to prevent oil and gas from coming up from a reservoir about 13,000 feet below the seabed.

When Penury Signals Strength

So, the Las Vegas Tea Party Convention is cancelled. To East Coast journalists, this looks like a sign of weakness, but it need not be at all. Instead, it may signal wise use of resources.

Journalists often use resources placed on display - money, to be blunt - as a proxy for popularity and strength. In the old days, that association worked pretty well, but in the Internet era, when you can eliminate the entire middle of a political organization, and have, say, FOX News reaching down directly to the grassroots, then wealth and organization need not correlate at all with strength. If Tea Partiers win a few elections, then wealth will instantly materialize in their coffers, no matter how chaotic their affairs:

According to the Las Vegas hotel that was supposed to play host to the second national tea party convention, the much-hyped event has been canceled.

...If the convention really is off, the loss of the event will stand as the third high-profile tea party organizing fail in a month. With the election rapidly approaching, the failure of the LibertyXPO in DC this month, the second DC 9/12 rally and now the second convention suggest those that hope to leverage the movement for big, nationally-covered productions may have tapped out the tea party grassroots.

...Danish and her allies have already scared Phillips and the convention off once before, they say, and they said its possible the grassroots opposition to the convention in Nevada may have shut down the convention entirely this time. Sharron Angle, tea party megastar and Nevada's Republican nominee for Senate, was listed as the keynote speaker when the Vegas convention was first announced. After pressure from Danish and other concerned tea partiers on the ground in Nevada, they say, Angle -- presumably the biggest draw at the event -- was reconsidering her speaking slot.

"Phillips knew we were planning another boycott and Sharron Angle's camp was advised to pull out," Danish told me.

Danish is not the first local activist to push back against national tea party organizers lately. The LibertyXPO, which was billed as the largest political organizing event in the movement's history failed miserably when no one bothered to show up when it kicked off in DC Sept. 10. As Mother Jones' Stephanie Mencimer reported, "organizers were still begging for $40,000 to help pay for the event" as the XPO got underway. Two days later, marchers at the poorly-attended second 9/12 rally in DC went after Glenn Beck for using up tea party travel money on his Aug. 28 rally to himself.

Nevada tea party organizer Anthony Warren said that he will not mourn the loss of the Tea Party Nation convention if it is indeed canceled for good.

"Philips is the man who said he will 'make a million dollars off the Tea Party.' We object to him, his wife and any organization connected to him legally," Warren said. He added that the cancellation of the event is "a very sad victory," but "moral" one for tea partiers angry at Phillips and his profiteering.

"The money that would have ended-up in Philips pocket can now be used for better causes and candidates," Warren said

What's New At B3ta Today?

The disturbing:

Image by Elvisweathercock.

Look, Mate, We're Not 'Fat'

And we have some numbers to back us up:

INTERNATIONAL research suggests Australians are among the fattest people in the world, but that may not be the case according to new research.

Queensland researchers are looking at whether new ways of measuring obesity could paint a different picture.

Nutritionist Dr Liz Isenring says there may be better ways to accurately gauge obesity than the traditional body mass index, which uses weight and height to calculate body fat.

"Certainly BMI looks like it's probably not the best measure of classifying (people as) overweight and obese," says Dr Isenring, of the University of Queensland.

"Percentage body fat ... appears to be the best method.

The Real Thieves

It's a tough world out there, and the dim don't survive:

But when Mark Smith, 59, allegedly tried to rob the bank, the bank manager suggested that what he actually needed to do was take out a loan, and she had him sit down while she said she was going to retrieve the loan paperwork. Instead, she called 911, according to Assistant District Attorney Dave Genochio.

Dazzled Mouse

Driving down West Street in Woodland last night, near Cross Street, I noticed a mouse trying to cross the street directly in front of me. The mouse seemed dazzled by my headlights, and stopped moving. I gritted my teeth as I passed by the mouse's location, expecting a tell-tale double thump on the vehicle's undercarriage, but heard nothing. I did a U-turn and scanned the street, but the mouse was nowhere to be seen.

It appears that Woodland mice have better street-crossing judgment than Davis rabbits.

"Singin' In The Rain" - Friday & Saturday