I did not know it was possible to do this. Its so amazing to see someone this connected to their instrument, with so much talent and coordination they accomplish what seems impossible.
Eddie are you okay? and Owner of a Lonely Hearts, on the fiddle... very fast.
Curiosity becomes yearning, and yearning becomes obsession. Several friends are drawn into my search. I no longer want merely to find Autumn and go there. I now want to go there and look for a little place to live not far from that leaf-covered path. Photo editors, editor editors, fact-checkers, researchers, computer guys and computer dolls—my motley, shifting, devoted crew come to be known as Team Autumn.
Amazon.com | William Gibson's Spook Country | August 6
Topic: Arts
3:23 am EDT, Mar 15, 2007
Book Description Tito is in his early twenties. Born in Cuba, he speaks fluent Russian, lives in one room in a NoLita warehouse, and does delicate jobs involving information transfer.
Hollis Henry is an investigative journalist, on assignment from a magazine called Node. Node doesn't exist yet, which is fine; she's used to that. But it seems to be actively blocking the kind of buzz that magazines normally cultivate before they start up. Really actively blocking it. It's odd, even a little scary, if Hollis lets herself think about it much. Which she doesn't; she can't afford to.
Milgrim is a junkie. A high-end junkie, hooked on prescription antianxiety drugs. Milgrim figures he wouldn't survive twenty-four hours if Brown, the mystery man who saved him from a misunderstanding with his dealer, ever stopped supplying those little bubble packs. What exactly Brown is up to Milgrim can't say, but it seems to be military in nature. At least, Milgrim's very nuanced Russian would seem to be a big part of it, as would breaking into locked rooms.
Bobby Chombo is a "producer," and an enigma. In his day job, Bobby is a troubleshooter for manufacturers of military navigation equipment. He refuses to sleep in the same place twice. He meets no one. Hollis Henry has been told to find him.
Pattern Recognition was a bestseller on every list of every major newspaper in the country, reaching #4 on the New York Times list. It was also a BookSense top ten pick, a WordStock bestseller, a best book of the year for Publishers Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and the Economist, and a Washington Post "rave."
Spook Country is the perfect follow-up to Pattern Recognition, which was called by The Washington Post (among many glowing reviews), "One of the first authentic and vital novels of the twenty-first century."
“To hell with the advances in computers,” he says after he finishes singing. “YOU are supposed to advance and become, not the computers. Find out what’s inside you. And don’t kill anybody.
“There are no factories any more. Where are the jobs supposed to come from? There’s nothing for people to do anymore. We need to ask the Seminoles: ‘what the hell did you do?’’ after the tribe’s traditional livelihood was taken away.
Answering questions written in by students, he explains the meaning of life. “We should be kind to each other. Be civil. And appreciate the good moments by saying ‘If this isn’t nice, what is?’
“You’re awful cute” he says to someone in the front row. He grins and looks around. “If this isn’t nice, what is?
“You’re all perfectly safe, by the way. I took off my shoes at the airport. The terrorists hate the smell of feet.
“We are here on Earth to fart around,” he explains, and then embarks on a soliloquy about the joys of going to the store to buy an envelope. One talks to the people there, comments on the “silly-looking dog,” finds all sorts of adventures along the way.
As for being a midwesterner, he recalls his roots in nearby Indianapolis, a heartland town, the next one west of here. “I’m a fresh water person. When I swim in the ocean, I feel like I’m swimming in chicken soup. Who wants to swim in flavored water?”
A key to great writing, he adds, is to “never use semi-colons. What are they good for? What are you supposed to do with them? You’re reading along, and then suddenly, there it is. What does it mean? All semi-colons do is suggest you’ve been to college.”
Make sure, he adds, “that your reader is having a good time. Get to the who, when, where, what right away, so the reader knows what is going on.”
As for making money, “war is a very profitable thing for a few people. Jesus used to be so merciful and loving of the poor. But now he’s a Republican.
“Our economy today is not capitalism. It’s casino-ism. That’s all the stock market is about. Gambling.
World exclusive skydiver video... watch the incredible footage here! | the Daily Mail
Topic: Arts
6:03 am EST, Mar 2, 2007
Shown here - and ONLY here - for the first time online is the amazing video from the helmet camera of British skydiver Michael Holmes.
It shows him plummeting 12,000ft to earth after both his parachutes failed, saying goodbye to the world... and hitting the ground with a sickening thud at 80mph.
Michael's friend, who jumped from the same plane, also filmed the whole event. He found his pal bleeding and unconscious - but alive.
Just saw this on Film Four tonight (UK TV chanel)... very interesting, but 50 minutes isn't even near long enough if you've read Paul Sammon's excellent "Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner". Interviews with everybody involved except Harrison Ford and Sean Young of course, who hated each other's guts during the making of the film. We even see Philip K. Dick before he died - what a paranoid bloke he was! And even, for the first time ever, a look at the deleted scene where Deckard visits Holden in hospital. If you look you'll see the set for that scene was from Alien.
It's amazing visiting the buildings Ridley Scott used to make his future vision of Los Angeles. In the daytime they look NOTHING like Scott's sets, particularly the Bradbury Building in L.A., used for the final battle... when you see the before and after shots it really brings home what a genius of visual style Scott is.
Most shocking is that whilst all of the people have obviously aged in the last 20 years, Joe Turkel (Eldon Tyrell) hasn't aged a day! Hmmmm...
For anyone that hasn't read Paul Sammon's book, you'll be amazed at the problems encountered making this film, a true up-hill struggle. But Blade Runner still remains one of the best American movies of all time.
Ridley Scott admits this is one of his best films, and millions of cult fans worldwide agree. A true original...
Abandoned: Fire Dept, Police Station, and City Hall - Page 9 - UK Urban Exploration Forums
Topic: Arts
9:08 am EST, Feb 21, 2007
Keep entering abandoned buildings long enough in Detroit and sooner or later you will be shot. Trust me, I may be the one that scoops you up off the ground shot.
The police station there has only been closed for about 4 years, the fire station about 2 1/2. A few of our members that work for Detroit Fire Department work side jobs with Highland Park Public Safety. The PSO's have been back on the streets for the past year plus and their stations were moved to more modern facilities as the old facilities were in obvious disrepair and it would have cost way too much to bring up to code.
Not to discourage your explorations, but, you really need to watch where you are walking into within the city limits and in Highland Park. You may very well get shot or stabbed to death and I seriously mean that. I've been working the streets of Detroit for years and at the very least for your own safety, stay out of the neighborhoods at night.....you will get shot! If you don't know the hoods, the safest thing to do is stay away.
You must remember too, that a large portion of Highland Park was wiped clean by a tornado back in the late 90's and that cleared a large section of those neighborhoods out. HP may be very well on it's way to being back on the map as one of the Japanese auto makers are considering moving operations there....stay tuned.
One place you may want to consider exploring as myself and a couple of police officers and fellow medics/firefighters are wanting to check out is the old subway entry points on 2nd near the Detroit border. When Detroit and Highland Park were in their haydays, rail cars and street trollies were king and one of the areas to catch a trolly was underground tunnels located under Highland Park....before the construction of M-8, these railways ran some distance underground.
I hate to sound like a nag, but again, WATCH YOUR BACK!!!!! Folks in these hoods will just as soon shoot you as look at you. Also, you may want to consider blacking out the faces of those autopsy photos.....hate to see someone from the feds get on you over violation of HIPPA laws (Federal laws that protect the identity of patients dead or alive.) It's all good, but be carefull.
This is an EMT's response to an urban explorer who goes into abandoned buildings in Woodland Park, Michigan. Amazing, haunting photos.
